MADRID, SPAIN – Just when you think terrorism is over – it ain’t.
In an era of ‘terrorism‘, i.e. the post 9/11 period, I am sure there are lots of people who wish it would all just go away. Not that terrorism is only 20 years old but it was previously an afterthought, a blip on the radar, and not the all-consuming concern that continues to dominate our headlines.
Wishing something away is not the same as making it do so. And what concerns me these days is that a lot of self-styled ‘experts‘ think that the rule of jihadi terrorism is all but over. But as my friend Liam Duffy wrote in a recent UnHerd piece “Of course, the jihadist movement could collapse or fade into irrelevance. It’s just that there’s no reason to think it will, and that all the indicators — mostly from historical precedent — point the other way.”
History shows us time and time again that movements we thought were ‘dead‘ have a nasty habit of returning. Take today’s featured attack.
On this day in 2000
The Basque terrorist group ETA carried out a car bomb in Madrid that killed a Spanish army officer in the centre of the city. Lieutenant-Colonel Pedro Antonio Garcia Blanco, a 48-year-old father of two, died instantly when a car packed with explosives was detonated by remote control as he passed by on his way to work: a 14-year-old girl suffered slight injuries. The attack broke a ‘truce’ between the Spanish government and ETA which had been in place since 1998.
When ETA announced it was ending the pause in its terrorist activity, I said ETA was making a mistake. Now is the time to show ETA the consequences of its error.
Spanish PM Jose Maria Aznar
Eleven years later ETA declared a ‘permanent’ ceasefire. That appears to have lasted more than a decade. And yet the group’s goal of an independent Basque homeland was never achieved. So is ETA really ‘dead‘? Never say never in the terrorism world.
Read More Today in Terrorism
May 31, 1906: Spanish anarchist bombs royal wedding
On May 31, 1906 a Spanish anarchist threw a bomb hoping to hit King Alfonso XIII, killing 24 and wounding more than 100.
May 30, 2009: Anti-government group bombs TV station in Ecuador
On May 30, 2009 two pamphlet-bombs exploded outside an Ecuadorian TV station and ministry: no victims or significant damage ensued.
May 29, 2016: ISIS uses chlorine gas in terrorist attack
On May 29, 2016 35 civilians were wounded in an ISIS attack using rockets containing chlorine gas in Iraq’s Nineveh Province.
