Posted on 03/19/2004 12:28:16 PM PST by AgThorn
|
Lebanon Daily News
Al-Qaida gets a victory in Spain
Thursday, March 18, 2004 - Daily News Sportswriter On Friday, a series of explosions rocked a number of commuter trains in Spain. At least 200 died and another 1,600 or so were injured. Two days later, Spain's electorate ousted prime minister Jose Aznar, an unabashed supporter of the United States and its war against terror. Replacing him was Jose Zapatero and Spain's Socialist Party. Zapatero had campaigned on a platform of pulling Spanish troops, about 1,300, out of Iraq, and aligning himself with Germany and France in condemning U.S. efforts in the war on terror. It was a stunning victory for al-Qaida, their biggest victory since 9/11. And it will have repercussions. If nothing else, al-Qaida has been a quick study in what it takes to succeed in its efforts to establish an Islamic-fascist dictatorship throughout the world. During the 1990s, the organization's successful first bombing of the World Trade Center, the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and the attack in Somalia gave al-Qaida a sense of invulnerability. The bombings were treated as law-enforcement problems, and response was turned over to the judicial system. In Somalia, a few casualties brought a quick end to any measured military response. The response to 9/11 was different. It brought sustained military response, and al-Qaida's stronghold in Afghanistan disappeared. Additional military response toppled a tyrant in Iraq, and in the process wound up causing a major change in policy in Libya. Would Khadafi have turned over his weapons of mass destruction had he not seen fellow dictator Saddam Hussein deposed? It is highly doubtful. Despite the constant harangues from the American left about the lack of success in the war on terror, there was a slowly mounting body of evidence that al-Qaida had been suffering serious reverses and that the tide was turning. That changed last weekend. With the bombings in Spain, al-Qaida is back on the offensive, and the success of the attack bodes ill for the free world. What will be al-Qaida's next target? With a presidential election looming just seven months away, the United States is once again in the cross-hairs. One candidate has unapologetically insisted that the war on terror has been a failure, that the United States needs to act in concert with the United Nations, that the war on terror is not a war, but rather a criminal matter and therefore a law- enforcement problem, that negotiation is the solution. The other candidate has said that the war on terror is a war, that there will be no negotiation and that terrorists and their supporters will face the wrath of a military capable of destroying them. Because they cannot win conventionally, the terrorists of al-Qaida and their ilk will do all they can to help the former candidate. They will, through terror, first try to chip away at U.S. support overseas, and, it seems likely, will attempt to stage, through one means or another, a serious attack on America. If they are successful in influencing the election through terroristic threats, they will continue to use their threats to further exert their influence. At what point will they stop? Perhaps it will simply be after they influence the outcome of the election. Or perhaps, if successful there, they will demand the U.S. withdraw all support from Israel. Or perhaps they will demand that the 18th amendment be reinstated and the 19th repealed. Or perhaps they will simply demand that all laws in the United States be written to conform to the Koran. Or perhaps, finally, they will demand that a mullah be appointed to replace the president, and that the United States officially become an Islamic nation. The terrorist attack in Spain was a success, and terrorists will learn from it. The result will give new impetus to the Basque separatist movement and may spread to other separatists across the globe, like the Quebec separatists in Canada or the IRA in Northern Ireland. The terrorist attack in Spain was a success, and al-Qaida will be eager to employ it again against its biggest enemy, the country that still holds for the entire world the promise of freedom. ------------ Sernoffsky can be reached at: dansernoffsky@ldnews.com
|
Even the foreign press see Kerry inviting Al-Qaida back to our shores ..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.