Spain's Army: guilty or simply following orders?

Spain's Army, between criticism and obedience to orders

The Spanish Army has become the target of a storm of criticism. Its supposed inability to respond to an invasion of 50,000 soldiers has peine the debate about its real usefulness. But the controversy hides two very different readings.

One line of thought holds that the blame lies not with the military, but with strict civilian control. The Army cannot act without orders from the Government. Whoever demands heroism without a mandate is, in reality, calling for a coup. Discipline is the foundation of any armed force, and that is learned from basic training onwards.

The other reading, more corrosive, sees the paralysis as a symptom of an entire system running with the handbrake on. The episode of the blue helmets in Lebanon, with decades of mission and the discovery of underground infrastructure after supposed sweeps, is cited as the perfect metaphor for operational capability that exists only on paper.

In between lies the thorny question of obedience. Military academies teach that an illegal order must not be obeyed. But, as the most sceptical point out, practice does not always match theory. The shadow of Franco, the last great military chief able to decide on his own, looms over any discussion of this kind.

The uncomfortable conclusion is that, if 50,000 invaders crossed the border tomorrow, the Army would most likely keep waiting for instructions. The question is not whether it is the worst in the world, but whether the system is designed so that it never has to prove that it is not.