Spain is learning a painful lesson on why nations do not give in to terrorist demands. Ever.
On March 11th, 2004, a few days before the Spanish elections were to take place, al-Qaeda attacked the central Madrid train terminal and killed hundreds of people. Four trains were destroyed by the blasts. The al-Qaeda goal was to force the pro-Iraq War government out of power; the Spanish people knuckled under and voted a Socialist into office.
The turnover was huge; before the bombs started going off, the former government was ahead in pre-election polling. The Spanish electorate surrendered to the terrorists first, and then the government knuckled under too. The Spaniards went SCREAMING out of Iraq as fast as they could because they didn’t want al-Qaeda killing any more Spaniards. Bad move.
I wrote an article saying that the Basque separatists were probably taking notes and that it would be open season on the Spanish government, which had proven that it could be intimidated by terrorists. I’m sorry to say that I was right. At least ten bombs have gone off in the last two days; the first attack involved the near-simultaneous destruction of five gas stations in and around Madrid. The terror group Eta, which supports independence for the Basques, called in warnings before the bombs started going off.
The Spanish government could have prevented this from happening, but they were too weak and stupid to realize that their actions would have consequences in their own country. Instead of honoring their dead and working with the international community at the source, the Spanish government has made a concerted effort to forget that 3/11 ever happened. Many families who lost loved ones continue to be aghast that their own government has ignored their pleas for justice. And their government gave in to the terrorists. This was a HUGE green light for Eta to break the truce and begin attacking inside Spain, in the hopes that the government would knuckle under again.
Two lessons come to mind: indecision and disengagement encourages terrorists to be more aggressive, not less. The other lesson is that just because an idea is popular (like pulling troops out of Iraq) doesn’t make it right. Spain made a series of bad choices after suffering a very bad day, and now they’re paying the price for their lack of vision.
1 comment:
The ETA is weaker than it ever has been. These minor bombings are being done by the younger boys letting the government know that they don't appreciate the mass arrests made after the train bombings. When politics and guns debate in the ETA, the guns will win every time but cooler heads will prevail eventually. The government provoked the ETA this time.
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