The despicable bombings by the Muslim jihadists in Madrid on March 11 claimed 200 lives (and wounded another 1400); they also formed a prelude to the most important event in international politics since September 11, 2001. For, horrible though that cold-blooded murder of innocent people was, its significance was dwarfed by what happened in Spain a few days later. Timed to coincide with the Spanish national election, the terrorist attack by al Qaeda achieved its desired effect, which was only incidentally the slaughter of a couple hundred infidels. The deeper aim was to interfere in the course of the electoral process of a Western democratic country, and that —thanks to the cravenness of the Spanish electorate—the Muslim fundamentalists did decisively. On March 10, the center-right candidate José María Aznar was universally favored to win. Come March 15, the Socialist candidate José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero swept in ...

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