March 19, 2004

Pakistan Army Rains Fire on Encircled Militants

Pakistani forces rained fire on Saturday on encircled foreign militants and Pakistani tribal allies thought to be sheltering Osama bin Laden's deputy near the Afghan border, a resident of the area said.

The 300 to 400 fighters holding out in well-fortified compounds in Pakistan's wild South Warizistan tribal area were pounded with shells and mortar bombs for most of the night, extending a battle that has raged on and off since Tuesday.

"There was no pause in the firing," said a resident of the town of Wana, just to the east of the battle. "Our houses were shaking."

Bursts of small-arms fire erupted at around dawn, indicating stiff resistance from the militants.
[Al-Reuters never disappoints!--Jen]

A security official said late on Friday the militants had been surrounded in a valley not far from the border and had no way of replenishing their ammunition. He said Friday night's battle could be decisive.

Pakistani forces say they have surrounded the fighters and a "high-value target," possibly Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, is believed among them. But no officials have confirmed he is there.

Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor, is regarded as the brains of al Qaeda. He is thought to be one of the key figures behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
[...]
The battle, involving several thousand Pakistani soldiers, is the biggest Pakistan has fought since it joined the U.S.-led war on terror after the September 11 attacks.

While Pakistan goes after foreign militants on its side of the border, U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have launched a spring offensive against the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies in what the Pentagon is calling a "hammer and anvil" operation.
[...]
The FBI lists Zawahri among its "Most Wanted Terrorists" with a bounty of $25 million on his head. He has been indicted in the United States for his alleged role in the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Here's a heads up to US forces to put on the teakettle: the British are coming...the SAS, that is!
SAS joins hunt for Osama
Good hunting and shooting, fellas!
Sounds like the "militants" are protecting someone or something big and are in the firefight of the lives...
Nice one.
We've got the "militant" Enemy right where we want them--under our guns!
(And now that President Bush has proclaimed that Pakistan is officially a key U.S. non-NATO Ally, we can say "our guns" when we talk about those of Pakistani soldiers, too. The President did that just in time; in fact, he made the proclamation about Pakistan the same day this firefight started. Looks like Pakistan will have truly earned the honor!)
Update: The WashedUp Post is reporting that many of the 150-400 "guerrillas" under siege are Chechens.
Very interesting... This makes me ask 3 questions:
1.) How'd they get to Pakistan all the way from Chechnya?
2.) Is the Left sure that Al Queda isn't connected to other terror groups like the Chechens in the face of proof like this?
3.) And if the Chechens are now fighting with and for Al Queda and the Taliban's remnants, does this mean that Vladimir Putin's made it too hard for them to fight in Chechnya?

Charges Dropped Against Yousef Yee

Citing national security concerns, the Army on Friday dropped all charges against a Muslim chaplain accused of mishandling classified documents at Guantanamo Bay, which houses suspected terrorists.

Capt. James Yee will be allowed to return to his previous duty station at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Wash., said the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the detention center in Cuba.

"Chaplain Yee has won," his attorney, Eugene R. Fidell of Washington, said in a statement late Friday. "The Army's dismissal of the classified information charges against him represents a long overdue vindication."

In dismissing the charges, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, which operates the detention center, cited "national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence" if the case proceeded.

This indicates that the Government has bigger fish to fry than Yee and that revealing whatever evidence they've gathered (on the Saudi-funded and implemented infilitration of our military's chaplain program with radical Islamists) to convict Yee wouldn't be worth it.
Notice that Yee is NOT being sent back to Gitmo.

Polish President Reassures Bush on Iraq

President Aleksander Kwasniewski reassured President Bush on Friday that Polish troops will stay in Iraq "as long as needed," a day after suggesting they might leave months early.

During a telephone call by Bush, Kwasniewski also discussed his Thursday remark that he was "misled" by intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Kwasniewski said "misunderstandings" about his remarks should be discounted because Poland's alliance with the United States was strong, his national security adviser, Marek Siwiec, said.

"We will be in Iraq as long as needed to achieve the intended goals, plus one day longer," Kwasniewski told Bush during a 20-minute conversation, according to Siwiec.

Poland sent combat troops into the Iraq war and commands a postwar multinational force of some 9,500 soldiers, including 2,400 of its own, in south-central Iraq, a sign of Warsaw's allegiance to Washington.

On Thursday, Kwasniewski said he believed Iraq was stabilizing and that Polish troops might start leaving earlier next year, months before the mid-2005 date previously cited by Polish leaders.

He also told French reporters he felt "uncomfortable" with being "misled" by intelligence concerning Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction arsenal.

He then told a separate news conference, "this is the problem of the United States, of Britain and also of many other nations."

Kwasniewski's remarks on weapons of mass destruction were the first by any Polish leader to criticize prewar intelligence reports - a controversial issue in the United States and Britain.

But Siwiec said Friday the Polish president's comment about being "misled" was meant to criticize intelligence failures in general, not Washington.

"It was not a complaint by Poland addressed to the United States," he said.

Kwasniewski tempered Thursday's remarks by stressing that Poland still believes the invasion of Iraq was the right course of action and the country was better off without Saddam.

"Poland will not withdraw from Iraq until the mission of stabilization is successfully accomplished and counts on effective cooperation with the United States, Great Britain, Spain and other NATO and U.N. member states," the statement said.

"Any demonstration of weakness in view of terrorist attacks undermines the foundations of democracy, nations' security and world peace."

Thank God Kwasniewski cleared that up!
President Bush sets great store by their friendship and Poland is a terrific ally and friend!
But boy, howdy, did the Leftist media run with Kwasniewski's "misunderstood" remarks on Thursday, trying to show that the rats were leaving the surely sinking ship that is the U.S.-led War on [Islamist] Terror!
Of course, we are winning the WOIT and Poland is sticking with us, because (sadly) the Poles know only too well what it's like to live under a tyrannical régime, be it Nazi or Communist.
God Bless you, Mr. Kwasniewski and God Bless Poland!
We will win this war but we can win it faster and more decisively with allies like the Poles.

GAO says Saddam's regime illicitly earned $10.1 billion from oil program

Congressional investigators said Thursday that Saddam Hussein's government reaped $10.1 billion in illegal revenues related to the United Nations' oil-for-food program -- much more than previous estimates.

The findings by the General Accounting Office come as the United Nations considers expanding its investigation of allegations of corruption in the program.

The Treasury Department, meanwhile, acted Thursday to capture more Iraqi money stashed around the world by formally submitting the names of 16 members of Saddam's family and 191 quasi-governmental companies to the United Nations.
[...]
In its testimony, the GAO said the United States has had mixed results in recovering Saddam's hidden assets. The United States has seized about $926 million of the assets of Saddam's regime in Iraq and other countries have frozen about $3.7 billion of Iraqi regime assets. But little progress has been made in identifying and freezing most of Saddam's hidden assets. GAO said the regime was believed to have illegally acquired $10 billion to $40 billion.
[...]
"One of the conundrums of this effort has been trying to understand and get a hold on the full universe of assets pilfered by the Hussein regime," [U.S. Treasury official] Zarate said.

Anyone suprised by this? Thought not.
It's clear from the state of the country when our forces arrived a year ago and from the infrastructure we've had to replace, repair, or install for the 1st time that Saddam wasn't spending the billions of Iraq's oil revenues on his people and his country.
Things like water and electricity hadn't been repaired since the first Gulf War.
In many cases, it went longer than that, where the disrepair and lack of maintenance began with Saddam's coup 30 years ago.
It would be nice if we could find these billions looted from the Iraqi people, so that we could return some of it to them in one form or another, but that's probably not going to happen in large part.
Suffice it to say that a good chunk went into the pockets of UN functionaries and the rogue régimes they represent (Need any countries' names be mentioned?).

March 18, 2004

  Ayman al-Zawahri
AL QAEDA TARGET TRAPPED

Osama bin Laden's second in command has been surrounded in Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf has told CNN.

Troops say they have cornered Ayman al-Zawahri in an operation near the Afghan border.

The operation, involving hundreds of troops and paramilitary rangers, has been carried out in the South Waziristan region.

The identity of the man surrounded has not been confirmed.

But President Musharraf said: "(Judging by) the resistance that is being offered by the people there, we feel that there may be a high value target."

Sky News' Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said: "Most people believe the number two is actually the brains (behind the al Qaeda network)."

And he added: "If it's true it is an enormous strike. It cannot be underestimated."

On Tuesday at least 41 people, including 15 soldiers and 26 suspected militants were killed in fighting in the area.

Army spokesman General Shaukat Sultan said there had been an unknown number of casualties in continuing action Thursday.

Warm up your ululators!
This is looking and sounding good!
(And where al-Zawahiri is, can OBL or at least his DNA be far behind?)

Kosovo in flames as Albanians renew war on Serbs

Ethnic Albanians rose against the Serb minority across Kosovo yesterday in co-ordinated attacks on them in the worst bloodletting in the province since the 1999 war.

A French peacekeeper was one of at least 11 people killed in grenade attacks and gun battles. About 250 were injured as the five-year peace in Kosovo was shattered.

2 days after the Spanish surrendered to Al Queda, France was being threatened by Chechen terrorists.
3 days after Spain votes "Yes" to Islamist terrorism, we see this, which involved a "French peacekeeper" getting killed.
The U.S. under Bill Crinton went on in the wrong side in this fight: we should have backed the Serbs and not the "ethnic Albanians," which is Liberal media-speak for radicalized Muslims.
Now, it looks as if our efforts have been for naught--the violence continues(which is typical for these Islamist hotbeds) and the Religion of Peace's adherents have given us zero credit for defending them.
Worst of all, we still have several thousand troops there.
U.S., get out of Bosnia and Kosovo, unless it's to help the Serbs!
And Europe, the "fun" for you is only beginning.
Watch out, Poland, Britain and Holland--they're coming for you!

March 16, 2004

A kind reader wrote to me to tell me that Scott Elliott's precious parents, Jean and Larry Elliott, were with 2 other Baptist missionaries when they were hit with enemy gunfire and killed on their Iraqi mission to give food, clothing, and medical care in the Lord's name to the needy people of Iraq.
I know you'll join me in praying for Scott at his time of horrendous loss, so drop by his website to offer your prayers of condolence and sympathy.
I send up one of thanksgiving, too, for the blessings I know this couple brought to the world in their lives and works of Faith.
God rest them.

Saddam Not Giving Much Information - U.S. Official

I've thought this for weeks, since we found Saddam in that spider hole, but maybe it was so obvious noone thought that it needed to be said.
If Saddam knows where the WMDs are, he ain't saying and we can't make him.
So there.

Mark Steyn in the Telegraph:
The Spanish dishonoured their dead
Here's a great graf from among many in his piece
"The Spanish dishonoured their dead:"

At the end of last week, American friends kept saying to me: "3/11 is Europe's 9/11. They get it now." I expressed scepticism. And I very much doubt whether March 11 will be a day that will live in infamy. Rather, March 14 seems likely to be the date bequeathed to posterity, in the way we remember those grim markers on the road to conflagration through the 1930s, the tactical surrenders that made disaster inevitable. All those umbrellas in the rain at Friday's marches proved to be pretty pictures for the cameras, nothing more. The rain in Spain falls mainly on the slain. In the three days between the slaughter and the vote, it was widely reported that the atrocity had been designed to influence the election. In allowing it to do so, the Spanish knowingly made Sunday a victory for appeasement and dishonoured their own dead.

Then, here's the opening of David Warren's "Rotten Europe:"

Three days after the worst terror attack in continental Europe since World War II, Spain voted to capitulate. In compliance with the demands made in an Al Qaeda videotape, the Socialist prime minister elect, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, announced yesterday that Spain would withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq -- unless, of course, the U.S. turns over the whole operation to the incompetent United Nations. We have seen the spectacle of nine million Spaniards, demonstrating their grief in the streets, their hands raised and painted white in a poignant gesture of mass surrender.

Finally, there's Victor Davis Hanson writing "Blame Whom?" who needs for the U.S. to know that though Spain pull out of our multilateral Iraq Coalition, America's basically been fighting alone anyway:

I can sympathize with the administration diplomats when they insist that we are not alone in Iraq. But they are only right to a degree. We, with the exceptions of some English-speaking allies and eastern Europeans, are in fact absolutely alone in our larger struggle for Western civilization and have been all along well before Iraq, which was merely the latest excuse for ongoing European appeasement. The Spanish will never go after the killers of their own citizens, much less the countries who provided them support and succor, just as the Western Europeans did nothing to stop Mr. Milosevic, just as they sent a token force to Afghanistan, and hardly any to Iraq, and just as the Greeks will do nothing if their Olympics are destroyed by waves of Islamic terrorists.

We should not like all this, but we also should not deny that it is so.

The events of last week, starting with the blasts on Thursday in Madrid and going up to the Socialist rout of Aznar's party on Sunday seemed to be unfolding on TV as if in a dream...a very bad dream.
For we here in the U.S., it seemed that the WOT was going so well that not only had Al Queda fallen asleep, but so had we.
3/ 11 was another wake-up call for us all, but too many of us hit the snooze button, so we got the shock of 3/14 as the alarm klaxon.
Battle has been rejoined by the enemy and new battlegrounds and new victories await.
To see the Spanish capitulation was to relive the shock of France refusing to support us in the U.N. over Iraq all over again.
Watching Europe cave country by country in the 21st Century WOT is to know what is was like to live in 1939, watching Hitler's legions take over the map bit by inevitable bit.
Last week, it was Spain.
Can Italy and the UK be far behind?
"Bush's war," like "Churchill's war" continues.
How unnervingly prescient that British PM Tony Blair gave a speech only a week before Madrid that was strangely akin to Churchill's famous "End of the Beginning" one.
The reknowned historical writer Barbara Tuchman wrote a fine book about WWI called "The Guns of August;" I think someday soon, a new person of letters will write a book on the days we've just lived through called "The Bombs of March" as a turning point for ill (or perhaps for good) in this war.
On 3/11, Al Queda blew up 4 Madrid commuter trains with 10 bombs.
For most of us in America and for our allies who continue to fight alongside us for the preservation of Western civilization, what blew up was our illusions that the "Old World," the birthplace of most of what makes up that fine civilization, could be saved itself.
Sic transit gloria mundi.

 

Thanks to Citizen Smash for getting the word out that Milblogger Bob Zangas was killed in enemy action in Iraq this week and letting the blogosphere know that one of its own, as well as an American and fine soldier, was one of the civilians killed the other day.
I'm sorry to say that I wasn't familiar with Bob's blog--I missed out on him and the good things he was blogging--he gave terrific personal commentary about working for the CPA as a Civilian Affairs Officer and was a Marine Reservist.
Go read his last blog entry and also see his photos of Iraq and himself.
He was a fine and happy looking young man and he closed his entry with the wish that we "hang onto our dreams."
We will, Bob, thanks in no small part to great Americans like you.
Bob's loved ones have arranged for you to leave your message of last respects at this location:
Bob Zangas' Journey In Iraq.
Semper Fi, Bob. Rest in Peace.

Report: Islamist Letter Threatens France with Terror

A letter from an Islamist group threatens to plunge France into "terror and remorse," the newspaper that received the letter said Tuesday.

The letter linked the threat to the French ban on headscarves in state schools, the deputy editor of daily Le Parisien Jacques Esperandieu told Reuters.

The letter was signed by a group calling itself the Movsar Barayev Commando, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

That appeared to be a reference to Movsar Barayev, who organized the October 2002 Chechen commando raid and hostage-taking at a Moscow theater that ended with 129 dead. He died in the special forces raid on the theater.

Typical Al-Rooters verbiage to aver that Barayev is dead; I think he's been declared dead at least 4 times (maybe he's a cat?).
After their very fruitful subway coup d'état attack in Spain, I'm sure that Al Queda and its affiliated groups like the Chechens are anxious to see if France is as ripe for the plucking.

Police 'identify' Madrid bombers

Spanish police have reportedly identified six Moroccans who carried out the rail bomb attacks in Madrid that killed 200 people and injured more than 1,400.

Media reports in Spain said the six are suspected Islamic militants and that one of them was among five men arrested in connection with the blasts at the weekend.

1 down, 5 to round up.
And of course, there are others in sleeper cells.
Given the fact that Spain just surrendered to terrorism on Sunday, the Spanish people should be very nervous.
[Does that Zapatero dude look satanic to you, too, or do I need a new tin foil sombrero?]

Honduras says it will follow Spain's lead, withdraw troops from Iraq in June; El Salvador to stay put
Guess Honduras still defers to "Mother Spain."
Thankfully, El Salvador appreciates loyalty and the positive things the U.S. tried to help that country accomplish, particularly during their troubles in the late '70's and early 80's.
Muchas gracias, Salvadorans.
I'm happy to report that our other Coalition allies, the Dutch and the Polish and our great, good friends the British have signalled their steadfastness to remain in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Soldier Seeks Conscientious Objector Status

 A U.S. soldier, who refused to return to Iraq after he was shaken by a gunfight that killed innocent civilians, reported to his unit Tuesday in preparation for seeking conscientious objector  status.

Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia walked into the building housing his Florida National Guard unit at the North Miami Armory after repeating his determination not to return to the Middle East and fight.

"I'm prepared to go to prison," Mejia said.

That's nice. Prison is definitely where he should go while he waits to meet the firing squad...

Mejia, 28, of Miami Beach, was in Iraq for about five months last year until October, when he returned home on leave. He did not return to duty. He surrendered Monday at an Air Force base in Massachusetts and was ordered to return to Florida and report to his unit, the 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment of the Florida National Guard.

"This is an oil-driven war, and I don't think any soldier signs up to fight for oil," Mejia said Monday after arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
[Ooooh, this kind of idiocy, lying and BS-ing makes me see red!
Soldiers go where their Commander-in Chief tells them to, without questioning the "motives" for military action and Mejia knows it.
Insubordination straight up and refusing to obey orders.--Jen]

His attorney, Louis Font, said he believes Mejia is the first soldier to turn himself in after refusing to return to Iraq. Mejia said he would seek conscientious objector status. In Iraq on Tuesday, officials said two other soldiers were seeking objector status there.

Lt. Col. Ron Tittle, a Florida National Guard spokesman, said Mejia would likely be sent to Fort Stewart, Ga., to meet with a military legal services team.

Mejia said he was particularly upset over an incident in Iraq in which he and others were ambushed and innocent civilians were hit in the ensuing gunfire.

A native of Nicaragua, Mejia is a permanent resident of the United States who served in the Army for three years. He had served in the National Guard for five years when his unit was called to active duty. In civilian life, he was a psychology student at the University of Miami.

Mejia said he joined the military upon his arrival in the United States so he could work his way into American society. He could not say whether he might be deported because of his refusal to serve, but said "whatever sacrifice I have to make, I have to go there."

Meanwhile, in Iraq, a commander said two U.S. Army medics there have applied for conscientious objector status. Capt. Todd Grissom said said the two, both privates first class, notified the Army of their request on Feb. 9, the day before their Germany-based 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment deployed to Iraq.
[IOW, they're chicken.--J.T.]

The two want to be honorably discharged from the military because the idea of killing is "revolting" to them, Grissom said Tuesday.

This may sound cruel, but all 3 of these cowards should receive the harshest penalties possible for their military crimes of desertion, insubordination and refusal to obey orders.
We have a volunteer army: noone is forced to enlist and they received lots of benefits for doing so, too.
When one joins the armed forces, it should come as no shock when one is ordered into combat to kill people and break things.
Even with a language barrier, Mejia understands what an "army" is and does from growing up in war-torn Nicaragua.
As for the medics who were witnesses to a "incident" where Iraqi civilians were killed, war is terrible and as tragic and sad as it is, the fact is that civilians get killed; in fact, the U.S. is in Iraq and Afghanistan because 3,000 innocent American civilians were killed on 9/11.
None of these 3 spineless wonders' "reasons" for refusing to obey orders are valid.
Worse, they are "coming forward" for the sole purpose of being tools of the Lying Liberal Left and its partisan media.
Their mission is to discredit the President politically and to discredit the just, successful War on Terror as much as possible.
There have only been a handful of these stories, but I've heard enough.
If I have to hear any more, I hope it's about these 3 stooges going away for a long time.

Kerry Sticks to Claim of World Support

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is not backing down from his claim that some foreign leaders privately support him against President Bush, dismissing suggestions by the White House that he is lying if he is not willing to identify the leaders.

If anyone can figure out what Kerry is saying, if anything, they should be given the Nobel Prize for Physics.
(I think the guy must be in complete, personal meltdown and being called out by the White House and SecState Colin Powell to name the names of whichever "world leaders" want a Kerry presidency seems to have made him go ballistic.
Yep, this is a man who is so capable of carrying around the nuke "football." NOT.)

March 15, 2004

U.S. Takes Steps to Tighten Mexican Border

Federal officials have become increasingly worried about a surge in violence and instability along the Arizona-Mexico border and will begin what they describe as a major air and ground initiative to help keep out illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and possibly terrorists, officials said on Monday.

The $10 million plan, to be announced on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security, will include the first use of unmanned aircraft for border patrol, the addition of several hundred agents and the creation of seven tent complexes to detain illegal border crossers.

Asa Hutchinson, an under secretary for domestic security, said in an interview that a tightening of security in border areas in California, Texas and elsewhere had led smugglers to turn in increasing numbers to Arizona — often with violent results.

"This is not a secure border," Mr. Hutchinson said. "Arizona has become the chokepoint. This is our current battleground."

Thank you, Bush Administration!
This so needs to happen and not a moment too soon.
As airline and visa access to this country becomes a lot more restrictive for foreigners who would do us harm, their #1 access will be our borders with Canada and Mexico.
Now that we know that we can almost bank on a terror attack before our own elections, I feel better knowing that these unmanned aircraft (predator drones?) are going to be on patrol 24/7 over the softest part of our Mexican border.
This is $10 million in taxpayer dollars that will be well spent and I still hope to see us do more.
I suppose it's too much to hope for an Israeli-style security fence...

Mountain manhunt nets top Taliban

Three Taliban commanders have been arrested and 12 of the movement's fighters killed as the American military launched an operation in southern Afghanistan aimed at capturing militants, including Osama bin Laden.The leaders were captured in Zabul, a lawless province in the south where remnants of the ousted regime are fighting for control by bribing and intimidating the local population. The operation, called Mountain Storm, is backed by air support and was launched a week ago as the US-led coalition intensified its hunt for bin Laden along the Pakistani border.The Taliban commanders were captured during a joint US-Afghan search for a former Taliban provincial governor. The 12 guerrillas were killed in an air strike in the southern province of Kandahar last Thursday.

If Osama's still alive--which I don't think he is--Task Force 121 is going to get him!
Great work, guys and keep it up!

Poll: British Muslims 'Back Terror Strikes on Us'
This pretty much speaks for itself.
So much for the Religion of Peace or at least a vocal and violent minority of their adherents.
But a minority, 10%, would be 100 million worldwide (if you extropolate this statistic for the globe) and that's more than plenty to wage violent jihad and kill a good number of the rest of us infidel kuff'ir.

March 14, 2004

Spanish government admits defeat

Spain's ruling Popular Party has suffered an unexpected defeat in the country's general election.

The poll was overshadowed by claims that al-Qaeda carried out the Madrid bomb attacks that killed 200 people.

What a sad day for Spain, almost sadder in its way than Thursday, because who no knows how long the repercussions from this will last in the future?
This was a black day for Spain for several reasons:
First of all, under Aznar and the Conservatives, Spain had not only secured a place of honor on the right side of the WOT, which is where she should remain if they want to fight terrorism, but the Spanish economy was doing very well.
In fact, Spain's economic growth in recent years was far better than the rest of Western Europe and was showing signs of doing even better.
Under a Socialist-led government, how long will that last?
Secondly, the Popular Party's candidate Rajoy supposedly did poorly because he kept insisting that the 3/11 bombings were done by ETA.
Further, it was "leaked" to the Spanish public that he continued to blame ETA (and not Al Queda/Islamist terrorists) for his party's political gains, because the PP had taken a hard-line on ETA and thought they could win on a platform of taking an even harder line on the Basque separatist group.
When evidence emerged that it was more likely than not Al Queda that was responsible for the 3/11 slaughter, the PP stubbornly stayed with ETA.
Therefore, the Spanish electorate certainly did punish the PP for using the attacks politically.
If you'll remember, President Bush wouldn't state an opinion as to who was responsible for the Madrid blasts, because he knows that the investigation is only beginning and it will reveal who the perpetrators were.
Perhaps if Aznar, Rajoy and the PP had taken more of a "wait and see until all the evidence is in" attitude about assigning blame, they'd have enjoyed re-election tonight.
Perhaps, not, however.
What is the troubling about the voting reversal for the PP--they were expected to win today--is that most Spaniards who went to the polls indicated that their vote shows that they blame the PP for getting Spain into the War on Iraq and as America's ally in the WOT and for that they think Spain was attacked on Thursday, therefore they chose the Socialist candidate who was offering "Peace" and appeasement.
How very tragic that the Spanish people cannot make the mental leap that fighting terrorism in Iraq is a fight against terror on their Spanish own streets:
it's the same Enemy .
(What country did the USA side with in which war to rate us being attacked on 9/11???)
The fact that 200 were killed in the 3/11 bombings and hundreds were wounded is a sorrowful thing, but the WOT wasn't over by a long shot last Thursday and we in the West now all live under the threat of being attacked and have since at least 9/11 (and really long before that).
Leaving the Coalition will be no guarantee of security and safety for Spain so if they elected Zapatero on his promise that he'd do just that with those results, they won't get what they want and Spain still is in danger of having Islamists take over the country from within the "Liberal" way now more than ever now that a Socialist will be taking power.
In today's Telegraph, Barbara Amiel writes a fine editorial on the Spanish election in which she reminds us that Osama Bin Laden had declared that Spain was one of his targets in the fall of 2001:

It is possible that Spain would not have had the explosions at this time if it had stayed on the sidelines in the war against Saddam. Their innocent people, now dead or wounded, blinded and crippled, might have been spared till next month or next year as the acolytes of bin Laden concentrated first on the more visible allies of the Great Satan America. Or not, for Islamists have a special issue with Spain. One should remember the words of bin Laden, who in October 2001 spoke of the "tragedy in Andalusia", a reference to the final ending of the great Muslim advance in the Iberian peninsula by the Moors.

By their own mad statements, the Islamists will not be content until all the lands they believe belong to the Muslim world are free of the infidel and the "humiliation of 80 years ago" is reversed, meaning the reversal of the end of the Ottoman Empire. Given their rather bloody interpretation of the command of the Koran to spread the word to all infidels, unless we pull ourselves together we shall find ourselves spread all over streets and railway lines. In the fight against Satan, it is traditional to have a deity onside. Let's pray by all means - and then pass the ammunition.

The Spaniards should have voted for the person and the political party that has the track record of fighting terrorists and that truly was Aznar's Popular Party.
But the very worst thing of all about the Spanish election today is that the Islamists really were the real winners because now they think if they pull a successful attack that they can sway democratic elections in Western countries.
So, get out your duct tape and if you ride the subway to work, watch out for unattended packages, especially around October.
Spaniards may have marched by the millions against "terrorism," but a march will not stop a bomb, much less 10 (actually 13) bombs...or worse.
The only way to stop a terrorist is to kill them before they kill you. Period.
Even though I firmly believe that most of my fellow Americans will vote with me to reelect President Bush and that our consensus will not be swayed even by a terrible attack here, thanks to Spain, we can almost count on it that they will try to attack us before our November elections in hopes that the Democrat candidate, Dims being the terrorists' best friends, will win and that Bush, "Avenger of the Bones" and bane of IslamoNazis everywhere, will be defeated.
Muchas gracias, Espana.

Some Iraqi Leaders Now Balk at Giving U.N. a Big Role

In a surprising turnabout, several Iraqi leaders are balking at allowing the United Nations to return to the country to help it prepare for the return of sovereignty on June 30.

Several members of the Iraqi Governing Council, which clamored for United Nations help on elections weeks ago, now say they are reluctant to give the organization a big role either in helping to prepare the Iraqi government to stand on its own or in readying the country for nationwide elections — to take place as early as December.
[...]
"We have had bad experiences with the U.N. in the past," said Yonadam Kanna, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council. "There is a difference of opinion on what their role should be here."
[...]

The suspicion with which the United Nations is regarded by many Iraqis dates from the time of Mr. Hussein, when the organization enforced the global economic sanctions on the government and presided over such unpopular programs as inspections for unconventional weapons.

Some Iraqi leaders said that antipathy toward the United Nations was reinforced when the team of experts, led by Mr. Brahimi, concluded that elections were not possible before June 30, and that Shiite leaders directed some rancor at Mr. Brahimi personally.

I have a feeling that things like Saddam's fiddling of the oil-for-food program as detailed here:
Hussein stole billions from oil-for-food program
are what the IGC is primarily remembering.
They know that the Saddam couldn't have pulled off this scheme without U.N. help, i.e. raking off a nice chunk of change for themselves while they "helped" Saddam buy "food and medicine."
So, it's delightful to see them come to their senses.
Sounds like their starting to "get" democracy and respecting their own country's and the Coalition's inherent wisdom.
For myself, I live for the day I don't have to listen to Kofi Annan's yapping about nuthin' but appeasement on TV, not to mention the other horrors the U.N. brings.