Moros y Christianos.

It'll be a frosty day in Hell when I'm pleased with any act of terrorism, but the news that last week's train-bombings in Madrid were very likely the work of al-Qaeda (who are now claiming responsibility) and not that of the Basque separatist group Eta is at least a silver lining to an ugly thunderhead which has settled over Spain and all of Europe. While the Spanish government practically fell over itself to blame the Basques in the immediate aftermath - mostly in order to deflect the opposition party's accusations that Spain's unpopular participation in the United States' "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq had been responsible for bringing on the terrorist attack, especially in light of the fact that Spain was right on the verge of a general election, which is being held today - it just didn't seem to jibe with Eta's modus operandi, which although reprehensible has thus far mostly targeted official representatives and not the Spanish populace at-large. A "9/11-style" attack wasn't exactly going to garner any sympathy for the Basques, so it was puzzling why they would resort to such tactics, especially as their plight as an oppressed minority population is so well-known to the outside world - unlike say the Chechens, who in their 400-year struggle against Russia have little to lose.

That al-Qaeda may now be opening up a front in Western Europe is a chilling thought, however. Though I wouldn't go so far as to claim - as former Clinton advisor Charles Kupchan does in today's Salon - that further acts of Islamic terrorism will drive the Europeans into lockstep with the Americans in its "War on Terror", which with its centerpiece an unnecessary entanglement in the heart of Mesopotamia is nothing of the sort, aside from an 11th-hour scramble to find Osama bin Laden in the mountains of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border that has more to do with Bush/Cheney 2004 than it does with making the world a safer place. True, the nations of Europe might ratchet up their own efforts against the threat of terror, but even the hardliners of those nations have had a hard time swallowing the Bush Administration's bullshit reasons for going after Iraq; in fact, if the Europeans end up seeing terrorism against them as payback for cooperation with the Americans, they might turn out to be less likely to sign on for any similar crusade in the future.

Whatever the political outcome, the real losers in this awful situation - aside from those who lost their lives in the Madrid bombings, their family, and their friends - will be Europe's sizable Muslim population, which is already being made to feel unwelcome in such countries as France, where a recent ban on over religious symbols in the public schools was directed primarily at the traditional hijab worn by Muslim females. Millions of immigrants coming to the European Union who have absolutely nothing to do with the cold-blooded killers of al-Qaeda are going find themselves increasingly treated as guilty by association in the eyes of natives who in truth fear change far more than they fear terrorism. The last time Islam was so prominent in Spain, the cities of Al-Andalus were the apple of the world's eye - centers of art, science, and commerce that are remembered to this day not only for their achievements but for their remarkable tolerance in an age of religious strife. Would that such a spirit will ultimately prevail today, and that the acts of a few do not succeed in dividing Europe once more into hostile camps of Moros y Christianos - Moors and Christians (and Jews, another minority who found Muslim Spain a haven, compared to the horrors of the Inquisition and the Auto-da-Fe that would come with the Reconquista; and who are again feeling the rising tide of anti-Semitism within the borders of the European Union).

Update: I knew Kupchan's theory was mostly bunk, but I didn't expect it to go belly-up so quickly. The Spaniards have voted out Aznar and his conservative Popular Party (which have ruled for eight years) in a record turnout at the polls. The Socialists, who won a surprising 42% of the vote, will now be calling the shots. Although the soon to be new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has declared a steadfast resolve "to fight all forms of terrorism", it remains to be seen how this political upset will affect Spain's until-now prominent role in the occupation of Iraq.