Terrorists Win

[billroper]

And now, we get to mark 3/11 down in the calendar, right next to 9/11, except that we get to log 3/11 as a major victory for the terrorists.

We don't yet know for sure exactly who was responsible for the Madrid bombings. We do know that someone claimed credit on behalf of Al Qaeda and we do know that the Popular Party, which was in power and expected to remain in power prior to 3/11, was voted out in favor of the Socialist Party, which had announced its intention to do exactly what Al Qaeda wanted them to do.

You get the behavior that you incent for. The Spanish electorate has now provided a powerful incentive for terrorist groups to carry out bombings in advance of elections as a tool to influence the results of the elections. One of my co-workers -- who was opposed to the Iraq war -- noted that the Spanish electorate had just done the world no favor with this vote.

And I have to agree. Time for everyone to remember to keep their heads down, because the tactic has now worked once and will likely be tried again.

Comments

[sibylle]

hmm ... I am not quite sure what I think yet, partly I agree though. I think some of the shift to the left that happened in Spain can also be attributed to the rather inept policy they ran afterwards, trying to blame everything on ETA.

I am kinda awed by the way the Spanish people reacted, though. Every fourth one on the street - what better gesture is there to make?

But, yes, in the long run it might be counterproductive, withdrawing the forces now. I don't want to get into an argument of whether they should have been sent or not in the first place - kinda would be talking about spoilt milk anyway. *shrug*

end of ramblings