OT: Election 2004

[AMF]

Well, ok, that's a logical next question (but I think it has some pretty clear answers).

First, why is Spain up in arms? That's easy: hundreds of innocent Spaniards were just murdered in cold blood by terrorists. Who wouldn;t be outraged?

I think what you're asking is "why would AQ attack Spain becuase they are in Iraq, given that AQ hated Saddam."

A well known motivation for Terrorists are highly visible attacks that help them show their strength, display their cause, aid recruitment, and demonstrate their terror-inducing capabilities. They also have a propensity to use assymmetric means to attack targets that they can get at (you don't see terrorists rushing military bases, but instead they'll walk into ungaurded schools and shoot kids, or blow up trains, etc...)

So, after Saddam fell, you could surmies that Iraq became a "playground" for AQ where they could both recruit at will, shoot at US targets (soldiersand marines! the best targets from an AQ recruitment POV!) and have access to lots of disgruntled, well armed, and jobless muslim youth.

So, why would they attack Spain then? Spain is in Iraq. The presence of any western troops in Iraq is both a rallying cry (the west is crusading/colonizing the Dar Al Islam! throw them off!) and makes the AQ job of recruitment in Iraq that much harder.

If they can push "allied" troops out of Iraq, then they can destabilize the country, recruit much more, and perhaps turn it into a fundamentalist revolution exporting theocracy like Afghanistan was.

And, remember, Terrorists generally strike at 'soft" targets that make a very public and ideally symbolic bloodbath. The spaniard strike did just that and at a very symbolic time (right before the elections, exactly 911 days after 911 IIRC), and showed the Muslim world that AQ is a force to be reckoned with, they can strike the West at will, and they are helping to drive the west out of the Muslim world.

QED

Originally posted by Combat Wombat:
So may I ask why is spain up in arms because they got attack by AQ because they are helping in Iraq, if Sadam and AQ hated eachother so much why are they attacking countries that helped bring down their supposed enemy.