Petrified Truth

Spain's 9/11

Spain was cruelly victimized this week by terrorists who exacted a horrible toll in human life: almost 200 killed and over 1400 greviously wounded.

As they have so often in the past, the editorial page writers of The Wall Street Journal were among the most cogent on this terrorist outrage.

Madrid now joins Bali, Baghdad, Najaf, Karachi, Istanbul, Mombasa, Jerusalem, Riyadh, Casablanca and of course New York and Washington in the lineup of terror targets. With several months having lapsed since the last such carnage outside Iraq, we have sensed a complacency developing in some circles that perhaps the worst is over. The late-night comedians have begun to make fun of the "orange alerts," the Patriot Act is being assailed by liberals and libertarians, and voices in Congress are once again daring to propose less defense spending.

The danger is that we will once again return to the "law enforcement" mindset that dominated the world's handling of terrorism before 9/11. This view assumes that, however awful, terrorism is an endurable tragedy that can be prosecuted after the fact, like a murder in Chicago. John Kerry has been explicit in recommending this kind of policy.

This temptation is understandable but dangerous. Fighting a war, even one like the war on terror that is often in the shadows, is expensive and hard. It's not surprising that many Americans would like to return to the Roaring Nineties when terrorism was something that happened to other people--in Israel or somewhere far away. But that vacation from history ended on September 11.

The Madrid bombings are a reminder that terrorism remains the largest single threat to Western freedom and security. It threatens every country that refuses to cower in fear and dares to take the battle to the terrorists. We've made large strides in this war since 9/11, thanks in part to friends like the Spanish. Their current grief should inspire America's renewed determination.

Pondering what exactly happened, Jihadwatch points us to a 2001 report that ETA and al Qaeda had established a strategic alliance.

The Basque terrorist organization ETA and bin Laden's al-Qaeda cells have joined forces. Their shared goal: to organize and carry out an attack on the EU meeting scheduled for March 2002 in Barcelona, according to two Spanish publications, Tiempo and El Mundo.

According to the reports, which have been confirmed by Italian and French media, representatives of the two terrorist organizations have already met together three times in Brussels in December 2000; in Malaga, Spain in February 2001; and in Barcelona last July.

According to the European reports, the terrorists have planned a suicide attack on the meeting that would entail the use of five car bombs provided by ETA, and delivered by five al-Qaeda suicide drivers. European authorities consider this news credible, and have disclosed that Mohammed Atta--one of the terrorists responsible for the early September attack on the World Trade Center--may have also attended the July meeting between ETA and al-Qaeda in Barcelona.

Citizen diplomat and pundit Mansoor Ijaz also thinks this savage attack represents a new phase in the al Qaeda threat.

Mansoor Ijaz, a foreign-affairs analyst for Fox News, said the attacks had many of the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda operation. He said it was evidence the pan-Islamic terror organization may be "joining hands with local terrorists."

"This represents a dangerous mutated version of what Al Qaeda has been doing in other parts of the world," Ijaz explained, "hitting three simultaneous targets, not necessarily in the same city but in the same area, with multiple explosions at each location."

Ijaz said Madrid was part of "an emerging pattern," citing recent multiple bombings in Iraq that may have been Al Qaeda-inspired.

The President of the United States had simple but heartfelt words for Spain, our steadfast ally and friend.

The United States of America sends our prayers and sympathies to the Spanish people, who mourn the loss of life, who today weep for their loved ones, who wonder about their future now that there's been such tragedy.

The bombings in Spain are a grim reminder that there are evil people in the world who are willing to kill innocent life. I appreciate so very much your government's strong stand against terrorism and terrorist organizations like ETA. The United States of America stands firmly with you as we work to make the world more peaceful and more free.

Killers try to shake our will, they try to shake our confidence in the future. Spanish people will stand firm against this type of killing, and they'll have a friend with the American people... we ask for God's blessings for the people of your great country.

Jeff Jarvis notes something about the Spanish reaction.

After 9/11, I remember a nation -- and especially a city -- utterly stunned, in shock, silent except for grief and fear. Spain is reacting differently: with anger. God bless them. Sadly, the shock and surprise of these tragedies is gone after 9/11 and Bali and now 3/11. Anger is the sane response.

The mass media also took note of the massive public show of determination by the people of Spain.

More than eight million people took to Spain's streets in an unprecedented show of grief and fury at bomb attacks the day before on Madrid commuter trains that killed 199 people and injured more than 1,400, police said.

Thousands more marched in cities around the world - in London, Brussels, Washington, Mexico City, Caracas and Buenos Aires - to express their solidarity with the Spanish people and to denounce terrorism.

The demonstrations in Spain - vast seas of umbrellas in rain-soaked cities and towns - were by far the biggest the country has ever seen, easily beating the previous record set in February last year when the population protested against its government's support of the US war on Iraq.

"A people united will never be defeated," the crowd roared in unison in Madrid, where police said 2.3 million people had gathered.

Jarvis also calls attention to the calendar -- the 3/11 bombings in Spain would fall exactly 911 days after 9/11 in the U.S., except for the extra day of leap year. Rather than discounting the idea, I think it might have had symbolic significance for the bombers; the morons just blew their calculus by forgetting the leap year.

We can hope that the citizens of Spain, no strangers to terrorism, will strengthen their resolve and continue to help America take this war to the enemy -- an enemy of us all.

Posted by Alan at March 13, 2004 01:44 AM