The importance of this story is to remind that al-Qaeda appears to have intentionally attacked Spain (Madrid bombings) three days before its national elections simply to influence the outcome of the latter. And it worked: according to a number of analysts, Jose Zapatero and his Socialist Party became more popular than ever immediately after the attack. The Spaniards apparently rationalized that they were targeted because of their involvement in Iraq. After all, that's what al-Qaeda said -- and surely anything they say should be taken at face value?
Thus, the very day after winning the elections, Zapatero promised to withdraw Spain’s 1,300 troops from Iraq, saying, “The war [in Iraq] has been a disaster [and] the occupation continues to be a disaster. It has only generated violence.” One month later the last of Spain’s troops left Iraq. More telling is the fact that the first question Jamal Zougam (one of the arrested suspects of the Madrid bombings) asked upon arriving at the Courthouse on 15 March 2004 was: "Who won the election?' He must've been pleased to know that their terrorist attack achieved the desired result.
As November 4 approaches, such al-Qaedist tactics -- we hate and attack you because of your current policies -- as well as the sheepish response made by some of the populace -- we promise to be good, see! we elected a friendly president who will play nice -- should be borne in mind. Especially since foreign policy is not the reason they hate and attack.
"Spanish Police Arrest 8 Moroccans Suspected of Helping Al-Qaeda," by Emma Ross-Thomas for Bloomberg, October 16:
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Spanish police arrested eight Moroccans suspected of helping al-Qaeda members implicated in the Madrid train bombings to flee.The men were detained in Barcelona, Madrid and Algeciras before dawn today, the Interior Ministry said in an e-mailed statement. They are being investigated over the flight of eight men, including five who were suspected of involvement in the March 11, 2004, attacks, the ministry said.
Groups linked to al-Qaeda killed 191 people in the bombings of four commuter trains in the Spanish capital. The attacks, just three days before national elections, helped bring to power Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who subsequently withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. Police have continued to foil attacks since then and have arrested 52 people in connection with Islamic terrorism this year, including today's raids.
Police were searching the homes of the detained men, the ministry said.
I think that an attack at this point would guarantee a McCain victory, and the cave-dwellers know this.
give me doughnuts:
In a sick way, maybe that's what we need to derail the rise of the annoted one. MSM won't report his socialist past, or his current involvement in quashing free speech and with voter fraud. It would be hard for MSM to ignore a terrorist attack in the U.S.
Spanish friends I know all told me that the reason people voted for Zapatero was the fact that the government tried to pin the attacks on ETA when everyone knew it was Al Qaeda.
Their government lied to them.
That is why they punished them and voted for the Socialists.
The same people who told me this are presently calling Zapatero a traitor.
Guess what the outcome of the next election will be like.
Ooh ooh ooh - Mr Kotter!
Horshack?
I know, I know. We'll elect BHO because people who don't want to think very hard about things don't want to re-elect Bush. These same dimwits haven't even noticed that Bush isn't in the race. In about 6 months, BHO will have completed his swing back to the far left, the first ammendment will clearly be under attack by the white house. News of rampant voter fraud, which brings the very results of the election into question, will have trickled into the public view despite MSM's best efforts to silence the news. And we will have folks talking of impeachment so that we can have as president...Joe Bin Laden.
If this were draw poker I'd want 5 new cards.
Sounds to me that some jihadis are still peeved about that "Reconquista" thing. They want to take back what was once theirs - Spain.
Maybe, just maybe there is a more effective way to alter the course of the election, than to bomb a train? Maybe, just maybe, there is a more effective way to inflict punishment on a far larger group of people.
Lest my tin foil hat falls off inside my pyramid, here goes.
1. There was an unprecedented run up in the price of oil.
2. The dollar's fall in value was only part of the reason for the run up in price of oil
3. Oil interests thick with cash, in the past would invest in our stock market, thus returning some of capital we sent for the oil
4. From the unprecedented run up in the price of commodities, it appears that instead of returning capital as investments, a good deal of the surplus funds were being directed to commodities.
5. Over the past several years, there have been several attacks on worldwide stock markets.
2-3-06 Russia trading halted
9-9-08 London trading halted
8-21-03 Australia
others include New Zealand and Taiwan.
6. On Monday there was a huge asset buyout meeting in Dubai. (Note Blackstone is basically controlled by Arab Oil money, and there are many other similarly controlled asset acquisition companies)
Could there be an economic war going on? I leave that to the reader to judge for him or herself.
I leave with one salient observation. The one commodity (you can check the charts yourself) that has basically gone sideways over the past 10 years.
Pork Belly Futures
Care to venture a guess why?
And will we soon be selling out what we have built and our future at 10-50 cents on the dollar?
There is a simple cure for Economic Jihad: Get off foreign oil.
If we can stop importing oil, then the Jihadis will no longer have the vast stacks of currency with which to wage ANY facet of jihad.
Domestic petroleum production, ALL types of alternative energy sources (bio-fuels, solar, wind, nuclear, clean coal), and conservation efforts must be encouraged (and research funded) from the highest levels.
Securing the energy that is the motive force behind our economy is a critical national security issue.
Our European allies will follow suit at a rapid pace. Their leftist (and ours) that march and scream about "Islamophobia" will actually encourage this, as it is also better for the environment.
Perhaps we can re-label burning petroleum for fuel as the "Environmental Jihad"?
GrimReaper,
Al Qaeda has tried to take credit for the mammoth drop in the Dow, saying they were engaging in economic warfare. While they may have been trying, there are a lot of factors in this global economy. The rise in the price of oil didn't make American banks give loans on overpriced real estate.
Al Qaeda thought 9/11 would bring the US to its knees. If the OPEC countries want to bring down the world economy then there is only one message for them: we will all go down TOGETHER!
Their oil will be useless if no one can buy it. Maybe they can sell to China but China will have a lot of toxic assets of its own if the countries that have been buying Chinese goods decide to zip their wallets.
Why is it so blithely accepted as a given that the Madrid bombings "caused" the change in government in Spain?
A few days before the election it was too close to predict and ended up a very close result.
I feel that people to unthinkingly give credit to Al Qaeda for the actual outcome is a perfect example of the 'post hoc ergo propter hoc' fallacy in action.
Opening the Book of Islam, seeking to understand terms like kafir, mushrik, jihad and qital
Opening the Book of Islam, seeking to understand terms like kafir, mushrik, jihad and qital
Terms like kafir (unbeliever), mushrik (idol-worshipper), jihad (to strive) and qital (killing in war), cited by several medieval invaders, buried the fact that well before their invasions, Arab Muslims had peaceful trade contacts with India’s long coasts. Jains and Hindus reportedly even built mosques for them. Today, when these words, through the acts perpetrated in their name, have demonised Islam worldwide, peaceful and learned Muslim clerics and commentators keep trying to explain that jihad signifies ‘striving’ to become a good human being, writes Renuka Narayanan in her column in Hindustan Times, New Delhi.
1 Comments More.
http://newageislam.com/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=867
Ladies and gentlemen
We appear to have acquired a Muslim spammer - syed above - who's been tacking his non-sequitur screeds onto the ends of quite a few threads lately (presumably in hopes of 'capturing' the last word and distracting visitors, or advertising what I presume is his website - caveat lector! - but all he's achieving with me, at least, is mild annoyance).