For a Monday morning. From "Grim":

I suspect that we will one day speak of the war in Iraq the way we speak of the Spanish Civil War -- that is, rarely by comparison to the greater war that followed it. Peace is not in the cards. Things are going to get worse. Our enemies are glad to employ terrorists, who will try to bring the war to our homes. The wise man will prepare his sword, and the arm that may wield it.

That said, while the spanish civil war was a precursor war
for the fascist rise of Germany, it would not have been
effective for britain or france to have invaded Spain to
fight the fascist's.