Recently, there has been a tragic terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain. The standing populist political party had pointed the finger at a Spanish separatist group, but understandably, Al Quida has surfaced as a probable suspect (and rightly so). Spain was our strongest western European ally, and one of our strangest allies globally, as well as the attack happened 911 days from 9-11-2001. In the subsequent election, the trailing socialist party, who favored a withdrawal of troops from Iraq won the election for prime minister in an upset days after.
The Thought
Al Quida and all terrorist groups know as well as you and I, that they can not achieve the aspirations militarily. In a global head to head match up with clear lines drawn, they would lose hands down. So, if their objective is not to bring us to our knees militarily, than what is their objective? All of you with your thinking caps on, have, or will come to conclusion that the goal is to bring us to our knees politically and socially. That's right, the desire of the terrorists is to influence the view of the general population that the war on terror, our support of Israel, our global influence of liberty, and our presence in the middle east (i.e. Saudi Arabia), is not worth the cost, and will elect politicians with these same views. If this is the case, the terrorists have won, the have achieved their goal.
Conclusion
The recent events in Spain has shown terrorists (whether or not is was Al Quida) the goal is attainable, and it is a gray day in the battle between good and evil. Spain has raised the white flag of surrender. I hope that we do not send the same message in our up coming elections.
Editorial thoughts
1) If there was no link between Iraq and Al Quida (as has been asserted by some), why would Spain be attacked by them?
2) If the military operation in Iraq was unilateral (as has been asserted by some), how could we lose an ally?