Editorial:

Looking behind the Spanish events

The horrific terrorist action in Spain has killed about 200 
workers and students and wounded well over 1000. Speculation is 
rife as to who perpetrated this vile deed. The Spanish 
conservative Government initially blamed the Basque separatist 
movement in what appears to have been a premeditated response. 
This accusation has been repudiated by the Basque separatists. So 
now al Qaida is being blamed. But it is necessary to look deeper 
into the situation that has emerged since the destruction of the 
World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. With all crimes, it is 
necessary to ask — who benefits, and in the case of terrorist 
acts, who benefits politically and how are they using the 
attack?

The Bush administration launched its so-called "war on terrorism" 
after the bombing of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 
2001. The bombing was immediately used to justify the invasion 
and occupation of Afghanistan even though not a single pilot on 
the hijacked planes was identified as having come from 
Afghanistan. It was also used to invade and occupy Iraq although 
the government of Saddam Hussein did not have any weapons of mass 
destruction and was not connected in any way with al Qaida.

The "war on terrorism" needs continuous scare tactics to justify 
the introduction of draconian legislation restricting the rights 
and freedoms of many political and other organisations and 
activists. This has happened in Australia, the US, Britain, Spain 
and elsewhere.

Step by step, as each terrorist act takes place, the Howard 
Government introduces more and more such legislation which, 
sooner or later, will be used against the Australian people as 
they act to throw out his government and the repressive machine 
his government has built up.

It must be recalled that al Qaida was originally created and 
financed by the United States to fight against the Soviet Union. 
US agencies built numerous fundamentalist Islamic schools in both 
Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Bush family had both personal and 
business connections with the bin Laden family. Both bin Laden 
and al Qaida may still be conducting activities in the pay of the 
US.

Such a claim may seem outlandish but when one considers who has 
made the most use of such acts and where and when terrorist acts 
have taken place it is not out of the question.

The terrorist act in Spain occurred just three days before an 
election and one is entitled to speculate that the conservative 
government of Spain, fearing that it was facing defeat in the 
elections, hoped that a massive "terrorist" act would stampede 
the Spanish people into voting for the conservatives.

That the Spanish people saw through this aim and threw out the 
conservative government has tremendous political significance 
worldwide.

It could signal that the "war on terrorism" is beginning to lose 
the support of many people, not because they have softened their 
opposition to terrorism but because they are beginning to realise 
that it is being promoted and used by the imperialist governments 
themselves. In Spain this has backfired.

The defeat of the conservative Spanish Government could lead to 
the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, a step that the 
successful Socialist Party of Spain has promised to do. If 
carried out, this would signal the first serious break in the 
coalition of those backing the war and occupation of Iraq.

Religious fundamentalism, including Islamic fundamentalism, is an 
arm of conservative and right-wing extremist politics everywhere. 
Fundamentalists are not the enemies of conservative parties but 
allies in a common struggle against political and religious 
progress and freedom.

It is again necessary to recall that there is much evidence that 
leading persons in the Bush Government, including Bush himself, 
knew in advance about the coming attack on the World Trade 
Centre. They failed to act before the attack, despite warnings 
and on September 11 they failed to activate the air defences for 
New York and Washington that were in place specifically to 
protect these two cities from an air attack.

Australia is also set to have an election later this year and the 
conservative government is now on the ropes, and may well try the 
same tactics as have unfolded in Spain. We should be alert to 
this possibility.