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

Slight disagreement...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I agree that the terrorists may take it as a victory... and, if the outcome was what they wanted, perhaps it is, in a way. But the news reports over the past two days suggest that the incumbents were voted out of office because they basically tried to shove down everyone's throats that the bombers were associated with ETA, when mounting evidence showed something else.

In other words, the Spanish people weren't afraid of the terrorists so much as ticked off that their government tried to spin the truth.

Nope, no lesson to be learned here. Move along, nothing to see....