Spanish Tide

The recent terrorist attacks in Madrid have exposed a major fault line in how the United States and the nations of Western Europe view the war on terror. This country (the U.S., that is) is clearly in a minority of one in believing that Iraq has been somewhat responsible for Arab terrorism, and that the best way to combat terror is to remake Iraq as a democratic society. But Saddam Hussein, despite all his obvious faults, was not an imminent threat to the U.S. or anyone else, and the war in Iraq in fact has encouraged, not diminished, terrorist aspirations. The incoming Socialist government in Spain clearly believes, unlike the outgoing conservative regime, that the best way to fight terrorists is hunting them down within the Western world, not invading a country that's guilty by association just because a miserable leader has international ambitions.

The bombings in Madrid were clearly the work of al-Qaeda, and attempts by Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to pin them on Basque separatists were clearly an act of dishonesty. Aznar's party deserves to be held accountable. But the Spaniards are foolish to think that dissociating themselves from U.S. policy and the war in Iraq will stop terrorism in their country. The war in Iraq has been going on for year now (more about which later), and the genie is out of the bottle. Spain now needs to help stabilize Iraq before the situation there gets worse. And Spanish involvement in Iraq is not the only problem al-Qaeda has with that country. Osama bin Laden is angry about the Moors having been driven from Spain, from where they ruled their Islamic empire, and he wants to restore Muslim sovereignty there. Bin Laden has made that abundantly clear. The Madrid bombings were only the beginning of a new al-Qaeda offensive.