THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT disinvites the US for the parade on Columbus Day, and the Wall Street Journal doesn't hold its tongue in an editorial (subscription required):

The art of parody knows one iron rule: You can only parody the mediocre. The truly great are, well, truly great, while the other extreme usually speaks for itself. And so here, in his own words, is Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono on his country's relationship with America: "What does not continue is subordinating and getting down on our knees on orders from a foreign government."

The Socialist minister presumably thought this a clever jibe at Jose María Aznar and the previous government's decision to support the U.S. in Iraq. We're not quite sure whose orders Mr. Bono's boss, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, followed when he pulled Spanish forces out of Iraq only days after the Madrid train bombings propelled him into office last March. It's not unreasonable, though, to assume that Osama Bin Laden believes that he deserves credit for the Spanish cut-and-run.

And the end is merciless:

We've no doubt that [the withdrawal of all armies from Iraq, as Zapatero had requested to the coalition countries one month ago in Tunis] would indeed be more favorable -- for the Jihadis who don't want a free Iraq. We really wish that the Spanish government would finally get up from its knees.

Ouch.