Anti-Americanism

From the International Herald Tribune, Sat-Sun Oct 23-24, Letters to the editor:

There is nothing new in saying that Spaniards are strongly anti-Bush ("U.S. ties with Spain show rising tensions," Oct. 18). But it would be far fetched to infer that there is an anti-American feeling in the country.

Spaniards who demonstrate at the visits of U.S. presidents go have lunch at McDonalds after their protests. Spaniards spend evenings watching the latest Hollywood blockbusters and enjoy sitcoms made in the United States. American basketball games are sometimes followed with more attention than Spanish basketball. Furthermore, we Spaniards sympathized with Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 as if the attacks had happened in Madrid or the Basque country where we unfortunately have had 40 years of experience facing terrorism.

Please do not mix concepts: A vast majority of Spaniards - and Europeans - dislike the Bush administration, but a vast majority of Spaniards still appreciate many of the American values that have helped create such a strong country. My worry is that many of those values are in danger of being lost today. But Americans will have the opportunity to decide on this in November.

Raimundo Diaz, Brussels