Al-Qaida did it?

Al-Qaida has allegedly claimed responsibility for the Madrid train bombings in a letter to London's Al-Quds Al-Arabi. No word yet on what was in the letter, but many will assume this is revenge for Spain's participation in the Iraq war. If that's the case, unfortunately, the lesson learned by many Europeans will be that we should just slink away and avoid doing anything to make radical Muslims mad.

After the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995, everyone assumed it was the work of Muslim terrorists until we learned the killers were a couple of white guys. The Madrid bombings are starting to look like the exact opposite.

Update: the Financial Times prints some of the "Al-Qaida" e-mail. The paper notes that Spain could be considered a target because of its support for the War on Terror - but also because Spain was part of the Muslim world several centuries ago, and Islamofascists have never gotten over losing it:

The London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi received an emailed statement signed by the "Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Misri" on behalf of al-Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The statement said: "This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam." Referring to Mr Aznar, the statement asked: "Aznar, where is America? Who will protect you, Britain, Japan, Italy and others from us?"

It continued: "We, at the Abu Hafs brigades, have not felt sad for the so-called civilians [in Madrid]. Is it OK for you to kill our children, women, old people and youth in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir? And is it forbidden to us to kill yours?"
[...]
There are several reasons why Spain is an al-Qaeda target. The most current is its prominent role in Iraq, and the highly visible political support Mr Aznar gave to the US-led coalition before the invasion last March. Spain was singled out in statements issued by the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before the war in Iraq, and there have been several attacks on Spanish officials in Iraq.

In the aftermath of the September 11 2001 attacks, Spanish investigators uncovered al-Qaeda cells and evidence that Islamists in Spain had helped the September 11 hijackers. New terrorist cells were also uncovered last year.

Spain is also at the western extremity of the historical "umma", the Islamic world, dating from when Andalusia was ruled by Muslims. It's reincorporation into the Islamic world is a stated al-Qaeda goal.

Posted by damian at March 11, 2004 05:02 PM