Madrid Bombings, Historic Spanish Islam, and Busy Work
Paul Jané has been all over the simultaneous bomb attacks on several commuter trains in Madrid this morning, as he spent his high school days in Barcelona and his good friend from those times recently moved to Madrid. Also up North, Debbye of Being American in T.O. has an excellent roundup post.
The Basque separatist terrorist group ETA drew automatic suspicion, as is the norm for such events in Spain. But late indicators point toward al-Qaeda. The group claiming responsibility for al-Qaeda also claimed the Istanbul attacks in November the same way — via a letter to a favored London Arabic newspaper. The group itself, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, is named after a former associate of Osama bin Laden who was killed early in the post-9/11 Afghanistan campaign.
It’s worth briefly noting the historical context when we consider (possible) Islamic terrorism in Spain, in addition to Spain’s current alliance with the U.S. and Britain on Iraq. Spain was a Muslim stronghold until the days of Ferdinand and Isabella — before they bankrolled Christopher Columbus, their first major success was finishing up the Reconquista, completely driving the Muslim Moors out of the Iberian peninsula in early 1492. al-Qaeda likes to add the 760-year decline and eventual defeat of European Islam (beginning in 732 with Charles Martel at Tours, France) to its long litany of “sins of the Jews and Crusaders”, and “returning” Spain to Islam is up there on its wish list. It’s a curious form of irredentism, seeking to redeem historical land that its current inhabitants have no interest in returning to the previous possessor. (Oddly enough, the closest parallel I can think of puts the Muslims on the opposite side: Kosovo.)
It’s a mistake to take those historical considerations too seriously, though. At base the ideology behind their current actions was summarized by a much more modern source: Vladimir Lenin, as quoted by a character in Tom Clancy’s Patriot Games: “The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize.” At this point, they have no coherent strategic plan on the global stage, just indiscriminate killing. The danger lies in their capability to leverage modern technology to increase their striking power. Draining the swamp (so to speak) of their support is valuable in the long term, but I’m convinced that the most important immediate action in the overall war is keeping them busy trying (and hopefully failing) to survive. That’s why Afghanistan is still important, staying the course in Iraq is important, and northern Africa is becoming that way.
11 March 2004 / 1 Comment / Tags: politics