Toddy: Carrot and stick. Treat the Basques like they were little children. Punish them, then hand them a piece of candy for being good little girls and boys, by doing exactly what the Madrid government tells them to do. Talk about ways to stop violence, not create more terrorism. Any Basque who thinks the carrot & stick is being used would make you eat the stick and shove the carrot --- 'nuff said.

Supporters of outlawing Batasuna: Cut off all avenues of negotiations with the Basques. Deny them the right to protest in the political forum, by outlawing their most vocal advocates because they failed to follow Madrid's specific orders. Then tell the moderate advocates they are next, if they don't do what they are told by the federal government. Tell them, "Behave or else!"

What's wrong with that picture? How does the bloodshed end if you can't talk? How do you call yourself a democracy when you are free to do and say what you want, as long as it isn't against the government holding office?

This "hard-line approach" isn't directed at ETA, it's directed at all Basques. It can't be hidden behind a smoke screen that says it's only against ETA and Batasuna. Too many anti-Basque sentiments crop up in what's said.

I find it hard to believe anyone with a shred of common sense would figure that the present situation will lend itself to eliminating ETA, eliminate the bombings, or get the people of Basque Country to buy into anything that comes out of Madrid.

Brain-washed since childhood indeed. Make the whole thing sound exactly like al-Qaeda and the world will buy the rhetoric. If talking idealism, patriotism, and fundamental human rights at a kitchen table is brain-washing, almost everyone is guilty of doing it. Even teachers.

All you have to do is twist the wording to your own choosing, then apply it. Pick out something heinous to compare with even though there's no real comparison there. Why not? It worked for the Nazis, didn't it?