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Last Thursday's cowardly act of terrorism in the Spanish capital Madrid killed over 200 people, including university students on their way to class, Peruvian and Eastern European immigrants, and a seven-month-old baby girl.

Spain is divided into seventeen autonomous regions, and regionalism plays a major role in Spanish politics. When I first heard the news of the bombings, I immediately suspected ETA, the paramilitary organization of Basque separatists which conducts ongoing terrorist campaigns aimed at the "Spanish State". Many apolitical observers and news organizations were quick to point the finger at Al Qaeda, the new catchphrase of the moment synonomous with terrorism ever since September 11th, 2001.

CNN wanted so badly to report that Al Qaeda was responsible for the train station bombings that they practically covered the incident under the assumption that it WAS Al Qaeda who was responsible, until it could be proven otherwise.

Why then, with the media and news agencies around the globe hinting at Al Qaeda and Usama bin laden as the perpetrators, were U.S. president George W. Bush and Colin Powell hesitant to accuse the terrorist group, when they had done so so readily in the past?

Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and his Popular Party government was an ideological and material supporter of Bush's "war on terrorism", deploying 1,300 troops to Iraq against a backdrop of anti-Bush and anti-war protests. With the national election in Spain only days away, Bush (or his handlers) knew that if Al Qaeda was responsible for the attack on Madrid, it could sway the people to vote Aznar, a key U.S. ally, out of office, on the grounds that supporting Bush in his "war on terrorism", blew up, literally, in Spain's face.

And that's exactly what happened on Sunday, as Spanish voters threw Aznar and his Popular Party out of office and elected Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist Party as the new ruling government. Zapatero, who promised to pull out all 1,300 troops stationed in Iraq, will no doubt form a coalition government with some of the regions smaller parties.

The Spanish people blame Aznar for trying to pin the blame for the terrorist attack on ETA. Throwing him out of office was his punishment for that, and whether it was a knee-jerk reaction to the attack or not doesn't matter. There are those who believe that pulling out the troops from Iraq will concede victory to the terrorists. What these people fail to realize is that governments are voted in and out of office as a result of ACTION, INACTION, and CONSEQUENCES. Regardless of who is responsible for the attack, the Spanish people, the CITIZENS OF SPAIN, felt that they were mislead by Aznar's Popular Party and acted accordingly. This is POLITICS. For people to criticize Spain for making the "wrong decision" is fucking STUPIDITY. If you don't live in Spain, and don't understand the complex nature of day-to-day politics in Spain concerning OTHER issues, then how can you render an objective opinion, based on ONE WORLD-WIDE INCIDENT?

Peter Worthington of the Toronto Sun tabloid showed his senility and arrogance in an article in which he stated Spain made a grave mistake and let the terrorists win by ousting Aznar, America's ally. This hypocite and the ultra-right-wing tabloid journal he writes for would have been the first to call for Jean Chretien's head had he deployed Canadian forces to Iraq or Afghanistan, and a terrorist attack on downtown Toronto resulted. Chretien played his cards perfectly, but Worthington and his cronies would never admit to that.

But I digress.

The Spanish people don't care who is responsible for the attack, they want the perpetrators brought to justice. ETA has carried out terrorist attacks on Madrid over the past 30 years. Last year, two suspected Basque militants were arrested for plotting to blow up a train station in Madrid. Last month, a van carrying over 500 kg of explosives was intercepted by police, who said that ETA was planning to use them in Madrid. The bombs explosive devices were made of titadine, a material used by ETA, according to Spanish official sources. And the explosions were remote-controlled detonations, the method favoured by ETA.

Al Qaeda, on the other hand, has often carried out co-ordinated attacks like the ones at Madrid's train stations. The death toll is more congruent with previous Al Qaeda attacks and transcends anything ETA has previously done. Detonators and an audiotape containing verses of the Koran were found in a stolen van after the explosions, and while ETA denies responsibility, Al Qaeda claimed responsibility through an e-mail to an Arabic newspaper. And eerily, there were exactly 911 days between September 11th, 2001 and March 11th, 2004.

So we see that evidence certainly points to ETA, but compare this with evidence pointing to Al Qaeda and it becomes increasingly difficult to know where to point the finger. But one thing is for sure: the citizens of Spain had enough of participating in a war they never supported, enough of being mislead by Aznar who tried to use another political group as a scapegoat to deflect the attention off him.

The Spanish people said Basta!- Enough!- and threw the right-wing leader out of office. Lets hope the American people are smart enough to do the same.

© 2004 Aaron Bayley