Lando 
Posted on 03/12/2004 8:07:39 AM PST by Lando Lincoln
We’re still not sure exactly who was responsible for the recent atrocity in Madrid. Initial speculation focused on the ETA, a violent Basque separatist group. Now, after a claim of responsibility by an affiliated group, most people are looking towards al-Qaeda. Frankly, on reflection, I believe that this was probably a joint operation, given evidence linking both the ETA and al-Qaeda to the attack.
The fact that the sort of explosives used match up with those that the ETA has been caught with in the past points directly at them. The operational methods (which are inconsistent with those of the ETA in the past), the style of the attacks, and the discovery of an Arabic video with Koranic verses on it in a nearby van linked to the attacks (along with the actual claim of responsibility by al-Qaeda) suggests an Islamist operation. It is not at all unthinkable that these groups might work together. In February of 2002 the British Guardian newspaper reported that the ETA had purchased Stinger missiles in Afghanistan.
Altogether this points towards weakness on the part of al-Qaeda as well as a serious danger. That al-Qaeda would be reduced to providing assistance for foreign terrorist groups attacking soft targets overseas suggest that the group has been seriously weakened.
One wonders why the ETA alone would launch such attacks. After all, anyone with any sense must know that such an attack is likely to strengthen the ruling party of anti-ETA Prime Minister Anzar, rather than the more pro-ETA Socialists. If anything, such a horrifying attack is likely to cause the Spanish authorities to simply wipe the terrorists from the face of the Earth.
Our Islamist enemies, on the other hand, have a stronger motivation for bringing this about. They have repeatedly threatened Spain for being a strong supporter of the United States in the War on Terrorism. Moreover, they have an independent reason to hate the country: Islamists continue to be obsessed by the fall of Moorish power in Spain. In one of his post 9-11 missives, Bin Laden himself ranted about the “tragedy of Andalusia”, referring the final crushing of Moslem power which came in 1492.
The most plausible scenario I can see is al-Qaeda providing aid and assistance to some faction of the ETA, perhaps in exchange for cash. Fanatic Basques probably don’t worry much about provoking a government reaction: like fanatics everywhere they probably welcome it. Neither al-Qaeda nor a fanatical faction of the ETA would, I imagine, be anything other than delighted at the terrible toll of the dead.
If al-Qaeda and the ETA (or some elements of the ETA) worked together to launch this attack, it also demonstrates the absurdity of the claims made by the anti-war left that the group would never have worked with Iraq because that nation was “secular” in character. If they’re willing to work with secular, “Crusader”, infidels: I can’t imagine they’d have that many qualms about working with their “secular” co-religionists.
This, however, raises the alarming specter of al-Qaeda as the training arm of terrorist organizations the world over. Imagine a world where a cash-strapped al-Qaeda runs about providing expertise and planning to, say, the Real IRA or, say, FARC in Columbia. The image of this seems to suggest to me that the phrase “War on Terrorism” is becoming more and more apt.
Our world is a dangerous one. The toll of the dead in this war is mounting as our enemy grows more desperate. They are cowards, in the truest sense of that word. Unwilling and unable to meet their fellow man upon the field of battle, they resort to the murder of innocents in order to intimidate free peoples.
In fact, the more one thinks about it, the clearer is becomes that there is only one war and one enemy. The specific ideological goals of the terrorists take a back seat to common thread in the wars they are all waging: the war is against free society itself. A modern terrorist war would simply not work in a closed or totalitarian society. An individual attack or two might be pulled off, but a sufficiently ruthless government would have little problem in crushing the terrorist cadres in little more than a few weeks.
Our enemies don’t want to destroy free societies: they don’t “hate freedom”. They wish to exploit it. They seek to undermine free society, to cow it, to force it into submission. They seek to abuse the people of democracies, to intimidate them and frighten them. That is the goal of the carnage in places like New York City and Madrid. Eventually the terrorists hope that free peoples will simply look at the ideological goals of the terrorists and say, “Israel/the Basque country/Northern Ireland/the Kashmir/the West Bank” is not worth the loss of life. This is the reality of the situation. In fact, the goals that the terrorists seek are, in their own way, rather limited (or, at least, their initial goals are).
After all, how would the loss of Israel change the lives of the average American? Or, for that matter, the consequences of an Islamist controlled Middle East? Were a national referendum held, an the American people asked to choose between the entire Middle East being controlled by Islamist thugs or the nuclear destruction of New York City, I expect that a majority would opt for the former. Of course such an outcome would, in the long term, have effects potentially far more harmful for a majority of Americans but, in the short term, it would make life much easier. Given the choice, a great many Americans would opt to trade the future for a little security and prosperity today. They wouldn’t put it that way of course, they’d rationalize things and tell themselves that the long term threat is not nearly as real as some claim, but they would do it nonetheless.
The attacks in Madrid, coming two and a half years to the day after 9-11, are a reminder of the difficulty of the task at hand. We can pound the enemy, we can kill him, but until he is eliminated altogether he will still be a threat. Even if we killed all but a dozen members of al-Qaeda, it remains entirely possible that such a tiny rump group could cause major damage.
We have only a single option: to press on and finish up this work that we are in. The savagery and brutality of the enemy must, at this late hour, be apparent to all decent people. It must be equally clear that this enemy can never be negotiated with or reasoned with: only exterminated.
In this hour of crisis we cannot turn to a man, such as John Forbes Kerry, who would tell us that this threat is “exaggerated” or that it can be dealt with via “law enforcement.” You don’t stop foreign murderers who want to bomb trains full of the innocent with subpoenas and incitements. You stop them with bullets, bombs, and the bayonet.
To refer to the dead of Madrid as “victims” is an insult to their memory. They are casualties of a war that our enemies have inaugurated but that we shall finish. These honored dead we shall revenge just as we shall avenge all the others we have lost. We will strike out with a fiery rage and mercilessly destroy our foes, until the last of them is dead.
Lando
Lando
Darn right. Vote Democrat and watch the bodies pile up ...
I hope enough Americans realize this before it's too late.
I thought this was likely al-Qaeda related almost right away. I saw the date was March 11th and realized it was 2.5 years exactly after 9-11-2001 and my gut said al-Qaeda right then ...Thanks for the post and ping !
Excellent article, thanks.
Yes they do.
They wish to exploit it.
Yes they do.
Both are true.
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