Remember, in 2004, when newly-elected Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero promised that, with the election of his Socialist Workers' Party, everything in Spain would be peace, justice, and light? By voting out the government of José María Aznar, that warmongering toady of George W. Bush, the Spanish people believed they had bought themselves an insurance policy against terrorism. They removed all of their soldiers not only from Iraq, but also many from Afghanistan. News comes this week that ETA, the Basque terrorist group, has renounced the ceasefire it declared in March of last year. Using a rather disturbing metaphor, Reuters reports that, "Zapatero's decision last June to start peace talks with ETA after their truce in March that year was a major political gamble that has now blown up in his face." If voting pacifist socialists into government won't appease the balaclaved goons in ETA, it's laughable to think it would do anything to mollify the far more ruthless Islamists lusting for Andalusia. Last July, over 2 years after the Spanish brought Zapatero to power, Ayman al-Zawahiri declared: "It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq." In today's Wall Street Journal, Spanish journalist Ramon Perez-Maura lays bare the fecklessness behind Zapatero's policies towards terrorists both Muslim and Basque and concludes: "It's high time for Spain that a grown-up returns to office." --James Kirchick