PATIENCE:

Spain's 9/11 (Walid Phares, March 12, 2004, FrontPageMagazine.com)

In February of 2003, an audiotape allegedly of the voice of Osama Bin Laden, said the Saddam regime will succumb. It called on all fighters in the name Allah to converge into Iraq to fight the upcoming Crusader march. In fact, the leader of the international holy war had planned to meet the "Kuffars" (unbelievers) in Mesopotamia. In subsequent declarations by the organization, just before, during and after the invasion of Iraq, Spain was declared as a full partner of the Jihad's axis of enemies. Bush, Blair and Aznar were portrayed by all Islamist movements as the "leaders of the world Crusade against Islam." Al-Jazeera's commentators, for months, reminded all good militants around the Arab and Muslim world that Spain was an infidel power, with enclaves in North Africa, i.e., the two cities enclaves of Ceuta and Melila. To put it in terms of geopolitics, the ally of my enemy is my enemy.

Even without sending its troops to fight with the Anglo-Americans, Aznar sinned in the eyes of the Caliphate-to-come. Since the final meeting in the Azores, days before the military advance against the Ba'ath Party of Saddam, the three men who sealed the fate of Iraq became the strategic targets of Bin Laden. Spain later on sent troops to symbolically participate in the stabilization. Al-Qaeda retaliation, carried out by Ansar al-Islam, came quickly. As of the early Fall, Spanish diplomats and officers were assassinated. In October, Osama issued a state of jihad address -- delivered via audiotape -- in which he classified Spain as an infidel state and called for attacks against it. Ayman al Thawahiri, his deputy, turned executive leader of the network, further threatened Spain, among others. By the end of 2003, the Iberian country was clearly a target for the men of 9/11. [...]

If the Aznar Cabinet aligned itself with the Bush Administration and the Blair Government against the Saddam regime, the Spanish authorities have engaged al-Qaeda and its affiliates almost immediately after September 11. In the secret war against terrorism, Madrid has a first class seat. Reasons for this abound. Geographically, the country is the door into Western Europe for many immigrants and other travelers from the greater Maghreb, including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. And it is precisely through the streams of migrants, that the Jihadists infiltrate the Euro-democracies all the way to France, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

In the 1990s, waves of Salafi militants reached Spain. In the preceding decade, these extremely radical groups had profited from the Saudi funding of religious sites in the southern part of Spain and were able to find refuge and get organized. When the civil war exploded in Algeria, Spanish Jihadist based groups acted as logistical groups to the Salafi terrorists in North Africa. Their objective wasn't Spain yet. When New York got hit, Madrid stood by its ally, learning from the American experience. Its intelligence services moved to shut down the networks within the country. In 2002-2003, Spanish police and security services broke a number of cells. Last year, on September 5, the authorities arrested an al-Jazeera reporter Tayseer al Allouni, on the charge of "collaboration with al-Qaeda." The Qatar-based TV opened fire with a week’s long campaign demonizing the Spanish government. Clerics and other fundamentalist figures accused Madrid of re-playing the infidel crusade. All indicated by last fall that the Andalousian jihad was on. With the Salafist doctrine, it was bound to happen. Madrid’s position on Iraq and its action against the terrorist cells were only to trigger a war that had been declared longtime ago in the mind of the madrassa teachers. [...]

Al-Qaeda has declared and has been conducting a global war against the "infidels." It has threatened Spain repeatedly in recent months. It has developed cells in the Mediterranean country and has already conducted training activities. Finally, strikes have taken place in the capital, with all the techniques of the Bin Laden tactical manuals. And furthermore, a statement was released via a publication which has been pioneering in breaking similar material in the past. With all that hub of facts, there is little space for doubt, unless proven otherwise: al-Qaeda, its subcontractors, or both combined, have executed the first major jihad strike in Europe.

What the world has seen today may well have been the 9/11 of Spain. Spain now has its own infamous date: 3/11.

One thing worth noting is that if it was al Qaeda and it was a direct reaction to Spanish participation in the unilateral war, they planned and executed over the course of over a year. If it's a reaction to the crackdown after 9-11, they took several years. That's an important reminder that just because we haven't been struck since 9-11 doesn't mean they aren't on the verge of attacking.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 12, 2004 9:08 AM