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The Rubble of Leganes

Al Qaeda finally took it's roadshow to Europe on March 11, 2004. Just days before a national election, 200 people were killed in an attack on the regional train system of Madrid. Spain and the United Kingdom had been the only two Western European nations to join the United States in it's military venture in Iraq. Spain is also close to North Africa, and at one time was ruled by Islamic princes. But even in a country with a long struggle with domestic terror did March 11th seem to be a horrific reminder of hate.

Except it was obvious it was coming. Much earlier, the arrest of Khalid Shiekh Muhammad, considered the mastermind of Al Qaeda's antics on September 11, 2001, brought about a confession that Al-Qaeda had been considering an attack on the DC Metro system. The assumption being that by Muhammad announcing the plan, it would be impossible to carry out. However, Al Qaeda is a clever group to adapt old plans into new environments. Thus was born the Madrid bombing. It was the same idea. Multiple suicide bombings on regional commuter trains in a national capital. It just wasn't America's capital. However, the response from the populace was to dump conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar in favor of his socialist counterparts, not "rally 'round the flag". In any case, Spanish police have far more experience in hunting down terror crimes, due to a protracted history with the Basque separatist group, ETA. Spanish law enforcement made several arrests before a daring Saturday afternoon raid in the suburb of Leganes. It came just after word that a bomb had been discovered on a railway separating Seville and Madrid. In any case, three members of the Madrid Al Qaeda are dead. Others may still be hiding. The real question remains though if Al Qaeda wants to continue attacking Spain or if it will strike elsewhere in Europe or the United States. Ultimately though, it might be that Al Qaeda is being seen as too homogeneous and monolithic. Indeed, there could be many fronts, ranging from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia to Europe to the United States. The "war on terror" may be a truly global undertaking.

Still, the rubble of Leganes teases us to question why these men blew themselves up: because the cell was about to broken, or because the apartment contained information that could have slowly unraveled the entire network? Expect the wreckage to be highly scrutinized for just that reason. The Spanish hope for the latter, but in the even they are wrong they can only hope that the brains of the Madrid cell is no more.
posted by Thomas at 3:00 AM 0 comments