It's not clear, but I'm assuming that the bag was a bomb that failed to detonate,and they left evidence in it? Did they expect the explosion to destroy that evidence? What kind of ignorant amateurs are we dealing with here? Are they getting all their ideas from Hollywood movies? Because anyone who's paid any attention knows how good the explosives forensics guys have gotten.

Think of the damage and destruction these people could do if they were competent.

Sadly, all it takes is a couple of ignorant amateurs to not only kill a hundred people, but perhaps more significantly to induce the Spanish people to "sue for peace" by kicking Aznar's PPD out of power and install knee-jerk socialists instead.

So much for "We are all Spaniards now." I have no comprehension of people who would respond to these attacks by blaming their own government, instead of the Islamo-fascist psychopaths. Batten down the hatches, the ride just got rougher...

I can hope only hope that either the Socialists (a) are forced by responsibility (not the same as punditry) to continue Aznar's policies (which is the equivalent of bringing a new member to the coalition of the willing); or (b) if they turn tail, that this emboldens Americans by reminding us why we fight: because it always comes down to us.

Yeah. Based on today's events, and the enemy's total misunderestimating of America's responses to their actions before (they expected us to do a Spain in 2001), the next attack in the US should be on or around 27 October of this year. Which right now must be Kerry's worst nightmare, because there's nothing he can do about it but hope that the Bush Administration isn't as incompetent as his campaign is going to portray it as being.

This election will make Kerry's campaign much harder in the short term, too. It's going to be hard to sell ~multi-lateralism~ when in the end we can't count on any of our allies to weather a minor setback. (No wonder the enemy expects us to run and hide and capitulate, because that's the reaction they get from everyone else.) And yes, 200 deaths in this fashion was only minor, compared to what they say they intend to do if given the opportunity, andwhen you what's at stake, and when you consider how many people are now going to die because of this.

(This is why I'm been so disgusted by the numerology crap--- it shows the ignorance and frivolity of the people peddling it.)

Every war has lost battles, and this was one of them. We'll just have to regroup and carry on. Thanks for pointing out the bright side, Raoul - and yes, that is a bright side; this will greatly complicate Kerry's effort to promote "multilateralism".

I've found the answer to my comments in the first posting-- Time Magazine.Seems that they used the old favorite of going after the rescue workers, and somebody didn't wire things up right. I hope they got some prints off of it, too.

As for the election-- it's now Vichy Spain.

Europe just wants to be left alone to die quietly. They don't want to defend themselves and they can't, because their cities are infested with hundreds of thousands of potential Friends of Osama (and thousands of real ones). They can hide anywhere and strike with impunity, because the PC brigades have made it impossible to effectively police neighbourhoods with a high concentration of muslim immigrants.

I'm afraid that yesterday's vote in Spain brought a devastating total war between the US and an Arab-European Caliphate a whole lot closer. That won't be pretty and it will inevitably go nuclear.

Good article from William Rees-Mogg in the (London) Times today:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-1038584,00.html

For the same reason, I'm starting to expect an attempt at a major (i.e. 9/11-sized at least) terrorist attack in America sometime in the fall to throw our elections.

Sort of "Al-Qaeda's October Surprise", i.e. "It worked in Andalusia."

It wouldn't surprise me if Al Quaeda used its ability to intimidate the Spanish electorate to now use that country as a hub of operations for its attacks on us and our allies.

It's not impossible that the US - Al Qaeda conflict could "go nuclear", in the sense that Al Qaeda might, might get their hands on a nuclear device, and use it in the US.

However, the resultant radioactive residue can be tested, and in many cases the reactor that enriched the reactive material can be identified.

Nuclear weapons are made by governments, which are attached to nations, which are vulnerable to attack by the US.

Therefore, it's highly unlikely that any nuclear nation will attack the US on behalf of Al Qaeda, and they won't want their nukes to fall into Al Qaeda's hands, either.