Mark Steyn: A Terrorist Massacre in Spain

In 2002, apropos the Fourth of July attack on LAX, initially credited to a fat white guy in a ponytail, and the sniper shootings around Washington, which The New York Times et al assured us was the work of a "macho hunter" or an "icy loner", I wrote:

The assumption this morning that this must be a Basque separatist attack falls into that category. Western Europe has been living on borrowed time since September 11th. Given the attacks in Bali, Istanbul and elsewhere, and given the number of Islamist terrorist networks in Europe, and given that the common travel area of the EU encompasses both stalwart allies in the war on terror (Spain) and far murkier jurisdictions (Greece), it was inevitable this would happen. As to whether it's "blowback", and if so whether one can avoid it, I addressed that in The Spectator of October 19th 2002, after the Bali bombing:

A TERRORIST MASSACRE IN SPAIN
and it's not ETA.

In 2002, apropos the Fourth of July attack on LAX, initially credited to a fat white guy in a ponytail, and the sniper shootings around Washington, which The New York Times et al assured us was the work of a "macho hunter" or an "icy loner", I wrote:

Broadly speaking, in these interesting times, when something unusual and unprecedented happens, there are those who think on balance it's more likely to be a fellow called Mohammed than, say, Bud, and there are those who climb into the metaphorical burqa, close up the grille and insist, despite all the evidence, that we should be looking for some angry white male.

The assumption this morning that this must be a Basque separatist attack falls into that category. Western Europe has been living on borrowed time since September 11th. Given the attacks in Bali, Istanbul and elsewhere, and given the number of Islamist terrorist networks in Europe, and given that the common travel area of the EU encompasses both stalwart allies in the war on terror (Spain) and far murkier jurisdictions (Greece), it was inevitable this would happen. As to whether it's "blowback", and if so whether one can avoid it, I addressed that in The Spectator of October 19th 2002, after the Bali bombing:

The Independent's Robert Fisk thinks the Aussies were targeted for a more specific reason - blowback for being too cosy with the Great Satan: "The French have already paid a price for their initial support for Mr Bush. The killing of 11 French submarine technicians in Karachi has been followed by the suicide attack on the French oil tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen. Now, it seems, it is the turn of Australia...." And don't worry, there are plenty of others who'll be getting theirs any day now. Just in case al-Qa'eda had missed one or two, Fisk helpfully provides a useful list of legitimate targets: "Belgium, which hosts Nato HQ; Canada, whose special forces have also been operating in Afghanistan; Ireland, which allows US military aircraft to refuel at Shannon..." Blessings be upon you, Mister Robert, we had entirely forgot to add "Kill the Irish" to our "To Do" list.

I wonder if it was a cautious editor who added "initial" to that French "support for Mr Bush". The French were supportive for about ten minutes after 11 September, but for most of the last year have been famously and publicly non-supportive: throughout the spring, their foreign minister, M. Vedrine, was deploring American "simplisme" on a daily basis. The French veto is still Saddam's best shot at torpedoing any meaningful UN action on Iraq. If you were to pick only one Western nation not to blow up the oil tankers of, the French would be it.

But they got blown up anyway. And afterwards a spokesman for the Islamic Army of Aden said, "We would have preferred to hit a US frigate, but no problem because they are all infidels."

No problem. They are all infidels.

Unlike Mr Fisk, I don't have decades of expertise in the finer points of Islamic culture, so when people make certain statements and their acts conform to those statements I tend to take them at their word. As Hussein Massawi, former leader of Hezbollah, neatly put it, "We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you." The first choice of Islamists is to kill Americans and Jews, or best of all an American Jew - like Daniel Pearl, the late Wall Street Journal reporter. Failing that, they're happy to kill Australians, Britons, Canadians, Swedes, Germans, as they did in Bali. We are all infidels.

And now Spaniards. "We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you." And by "you", they mean not just arrogant Texan cowboys, but any pluralist society - whether a relaxed tourist resort like Bali or a modern Muslim nation like Turkey or - come to that, one day down the road - a cynical swamp of appeasement like France.

I remain uncertain. In any other nation, I would assume muslims. However in Spain ETA has been actively inolved in terrorism for years. Just last year an ETA guy blew up a bomb in Madrid and was run down by a bystander at the scene. So I initally assumed ETA. But ETA is usually small potatoes and cowardly, kidnapping and killing individual "government officials" like postal workers. This took some planning and coordination. And I know from personal experience that the faces of many ETA terrorists are very well known in Spain, on TV frequently and all over the place. To be so organized and on this scale, I would assume some of these people would be involved, and to go unreognized during rush hour on a commuter train is hard to imagine. So for ETA to pull this off, they would need to use inexperienced members to execute the most organized and largest scale attack in their history. And they would have to abandon their own typical modus operandi. So I am skeptical of the ETA assumption. That leaves the muslims as the most likely candidate. But still, there is room for doubt. I want to see what the investigation turns up.

Raise up the flag of Spain

Today our ally, an ally from the beginning, an ally in word AND deed. An ally in blood - was attacked.

A country of 40 million suffered 200 dead and 1200 hundred wounded in an attack which the Irish Minister of Justice correctly described as, "Perpetrated by cowards who are morally and ethically bankrupt." These loses are the biggest terrorist attack on the European continent in recent memory. It would be the equivalent of 1,200 dead and 7000 wounded, in our country.

The World and mainly our enemies are watching. Will we be like the French or will we be like the great Country we should always be. Lets show them all.

I propose that across this great land we start a drive to reach across the Atlantic to Spain. Let Freerepublic spearhead fund drives for Spain. Grassroots. People to People. No politics No Politicians. Call your talk show host on the local and national level. Call you pastors and neighbors. Your paper, the VFW, the American Legion. Call the Spanish Embassy - 1 202 452 0100.
Savage, Limbaugh, Hannity, FoxNews, hell call Geraldo.

Get on the Net. Get Pictures of the Flag of Spain and tape it next to Old Glory on your rear window or make bumper stickers. T Shirts, caps, ...... .

Many of us Americans have seen the Passion of Christ, now is our time to help carry the Cross.
For a time, I, will raise up the flag of Spain next to the Red White and Blue flag that graces my home's entrance. They then will stand together in my front yard as our troops stand together on the front lines.... and as the rest of us stand in our homelands - shoulder to shoulder against the terrorist.

Courage is Important. Friendship is Important.
Today - The Courage of Friendship is Important.

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