LEAVE US ALONE TO DIE IN PEACE?:

911 Days Later (Eric Bovim, 03/12/2004, Tech Central Station)

If indeed this turns out to be ETA terrorism, then that suggests an alarming radicalization of what has so far been a beleaguered, provincial resistance movement. Are the professional terrorists tutoring the tyros? For many years, ETA was known to be trained by the IRA; now are Islamic terrorists, working with ETA, trying to unsettle a vital ally by proxy?

But far deeper and more profound questions abound if Al Qaeda is responsible for the Madrid attacks. Still aware of the Moorish occupation, Spaniards can be fiercely bigoted towards Arabs. But, still fresh out of the Franco era, they are also fiercely pacifist. In that competition of histories, who will become the enemy to everyday Spaniards: Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush?

Last night in Barcelona, hundreds gathered to beat pots and pans to protest Aznar's support of the Iraq war, giving a glimpse at what may signal the widespread outcome of these bombings. Unlike Americans, who channeled their grief towards eradicating the Taliban after September 11, Spaniards may well find their grief leads them to lay blame on the U.S. and Aznar for invading Iraq.

A galvanizing terrorist event in Europe may well be what awakens the old continent to the realities of the bin Laden century. Sadly, this may not be it.

Beat pots and pans? Not quite Battle Hymn of the Republic, is it?

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 12, 2004 4:43 PM