There was a lot more commentary on Tuesday -- some good, some bad, and much repetitive -- about the utter wrongheadedness of the Spanish election, which handed a huge and unequivecal success to al Qaeda. Among those I had time to note:
The Washington Post surveys the European press and finds hints and signs of rationality (as unlikely as that sounds).
Sociologist Emilio Lamo de Espinosa says Europeans have been dreaming. Writing in Le Monde (in French), Lamo says Europeans have thought they would be spared because they haven't supported the Bush administration's policies."When the Americans declared war on terrorism, many of us thought they exaggerated. Many thought terrorism was not likely to occur on our premises, [inhabited by] peaceful and civilized Europeans who speak no evil of anybody, who dialogue, who are the first [to] send assistance and offer cooperation. We are pacifists, they are warmongers. . . . . Don't we defend the Palestinians? Are we not pro-Arab and anti-Israeli?"
"Can we dialogue with those who desire only our death and nothing but our death?" Lamo asks. "Dialogue about what? The manner in which we will be assassinated?"
The Rev. Donald Sensing notes a pertinent quotation from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:
Many commentators of all political stripes are figuring out that the words of Eowyn to Aragorn in Lord of the Rings 2 are true: "Those without swords may still die upon them."
Meanwhile, Israel's DEBKA says forget about affiliates, sympathizers, fellow travelers, and alliances of convenience between shadowy groups of terrorists and radicals -- it was bin Laden.
According to DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources, the Madrid train bombings in which 201 Spanish commuters were murdered and 1,400 injured, were not the work of an al Qaeda offshoot or affiliate. Like the attacks in the United States, they were conceived, planned, orchestrated and directed by Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman Zuwahiri, in person, and aimed at a Western Achilles heel. The terrorist chiefs were convinced that a change of government in Madrid would engender the pullout of the Spanish 1,300-man troop contingent from Iraq, thereby weakening the solidarity of the US-led coalition and hurting President George W. Bush’s campaign for re-election.
Jay Solo just cuts to the bottom line, and asks his readers to place their bets:
Make your predictions...Posted by Alan at March 17, 2004 12:31 AMWhere will the pre-election attack(s) in the U.S. take place, how long before the election, and what form will they take? For purposes of this exercise, assume that the fact of an attack is just that.