Bases in Spain
Those Washington correspondents who have decided that an agreement will shortly be signed under which the United States naval and air forces will obtain bases in Spain have not been working on their own imagination alone. Negotiations have been going on for well over a year, there have been recent visits to Spain by important officials of the American Defence Department, and pressure from Congress, which has already authorised the expenditure of over £44,000,000 on military aid for Spain, is likely to increase rather than relax now that a new President and a new Secretary of State are in sight. Whatever the result of this increased activity may be, we can be sure that there will be the maximum outcry from the Communist Governments against it and that there will be some echo in this country, where the memory of the Spanish Civil War still has a mysterious power to make otherwise reasonable people behave foolishly. It is therefore as well to discount it in advance. The emotional Leftism of 1936 is 'better dead. The live issues today are the specific military advantages of having American bases in Spain, and the countervailing disadvantages of closer association with the least democratic European State west of the Iron Curtain. The military gain is obviously not negligible, but in view of the existence of.powerful Ameri- can air bases in Morocco and of the status of France as a major member of the Atlantic alliance, the case for new com- mitments in Spain certainly ought to be fully argued—not taken for granted. In any case it must be proved that this is the best of all the alternative ways in which to spend another £44,000,000 on Western defence. The political loss also must be assessed with care. To the extent that the Communist countries are genuinely frightened by the new move their reaction must be taken into account, for it is always in the interest of the West to reduce any genuine Communist fears of attack. But beyond that it is difficult to see any political disadvantages other than those which spring from confusion and prejudice. Military aid to Spain certainly does not imply political approval for General Franco.
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