“Agreed. But what can we give them that will satisfy them?”

“How about if we…”

This sounds very much like a discussion that Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the victor in the Spanish elections had with one of his key advisors after the bombs went off on the Madrid trains. In fact, the dialogue was between French and British officials, discussing Hitler and his demands on the eve of the Second World War. Then the wise men of Europe offered the vicious beast a slice of Czechoslovakia. After all, hadn’t Hitler said, “all I want is Sudetenland”…and…“didn’t he have a valid claim that Germany was entitled to it?”

It’s almost trite to say, “those who forget history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.” But here we go again.

Mr. Zapatero’s shameful promise to withdraw Spain’s relatively tiny contingent of troops from Iraq is totally immaterial to the threat posed to Spain and Europe by the Islamic terrorists. Their war isn’t about Iraq. It was launched on a grand scale on September 11 when Saddam was still ensconced in one of his palaces ordering the torture of innocent Iraqis.

Let’s not delude ourselves. What the Islamic extremists want isn’t merely a change of power or control in any Arab nation. Nor is it related to the Palestinian cause. Their objective, plain and simple is the destruction of the Western (translate Christian) way of life.

It is not surprising that the battleground has shifted at least temporarily to Europe from the United States. For years, terrorist groups have enjoyed much freer movement and access to financial institutions in Western Europe. The United States has a much tighter border than European nations, where border controls have been removed among EU countries. All terrorists have to do is gain access through the easiest point of entry. From there, they can move around freely blending into the substantial Muslim communities which exist in the major cities.

Cooperation among police in American states is often frustratingly poor. And we all speak the same language. It’s much worse among European countries.

Moreover, Europe is now on the verge of political chaos. The entry into the EU of Eastern European nations in May will compound the border control problem. Already, many are questioning whether this expansion makes sense. France and Germany are mired in recession. Even more jobs will be lost if the expansion proceeds in May.

It’s not difficult to see why Chirac and his ruling party fared so poorly in last Sunday’s provincial elections. People are frightened. Now about safety as well as their jobs. Europeans ride trains far more than Americans.

Faced with this onslaught of concern, the reaction of the European leaders will be critical to staving off future terrorist attacks. If Mr. Zapatero’s demand for a radical change in the war on terrorism and the restructuring of Iraq finds support among other European leaders, then people are doomed.

To overcome the illogic of their anti-American position, some in Europe are engaging in intellectual gymnastics to argue that the war in Iraq actually took away from the war on terrorism by absorbing limited resources. They overlook the fact that terrorists do far better with governmental support and funding. Saddam was always a willing contributor. Witness his payments to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. And those have been documented. To suggest that Muslim extremists didn’t have a supporter in Saddam in their battle against the West is to ignore clear facts and engage in revisionist history.

At any rate, there’s not much the Europeans can do about Iraq. The United States is prepared to continue the effort of establishing a democratic government to whom power can be transferred.

So how will those Europeans, intent on appeasement, plan to feed the beast? Perhaps one of them, not a Spaniard, of course, but a German or Frenchman, will say, “let’s give them Southern Spain. After all, Andalusia was an Islamic territory for centuries. That ended a mere six hundred years ago when the Christians conquered Southern Spain. We gave the Germans part of Czechoslovakia. Why not Granada, Cordoba and Seville to the Islamic extremists? Maybe then they’ll leave us alone.”

I thought I was being facetious when I wrote those words. Then I read them and wondered.

There are some among the Islamic extremists who put a priority on freeing what was previously Islamic territory. Sounds like Andalusia to me. Morocco is literally within sight on a clear day.

Mr. Zapatero had better be careful. Lest the battle move from Baghdad to Seville.

He of all people should be strengthening the resolve of the French and the Germans. It’s time that the Europeans decided to close ranks and fight the war on terrorism aggressively. They may despise Bush and believe Americans are arrogant. But the train bombings in Spain establish that they’re in this battle with us whether they like it or not.