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Saturday, September 2, 2017

A Country in Mourning



When your houseguest misbehaves



Spain is a country that is livid with rage. On the 11th of March, 2004 terrorists attacked early morning trains pulling into Atocha station, the principal train terminal in Madrid and set off several bombs that killed and maimed hundreds. Many of the attackers were living in Spain but they were of Moroccan origin.

The victims of that attack were mainly Spanish people on their way to work. At first it was thought that the horror was the work of the Basque group ETA that had been locked in a political struggle with the rest of Spain over many years. During that time they had engaged in a program of bombings and mayhem in an effort to get their way. On closer inspection it turned out to be the work of an all-foreign group of Islamist terrorists.

Spain took its licks, mourned its losses, and was remarkably sanguine about the whole thing, presuming it was the one-off, ill-advised work of some young hotheads and would never be repeated, certainly not by those who take the country’s hospitality for granted.

Well, it has been many years later but it has happened again and the damage and the loss of life is just too much for the country to digest, especially coming as it did from foreigners who were living here and possibly even receiving benefits. This country is seething! For the first time ordinary Moslems living here have come forward to denounce the attacks as having nothing to do with them, and for which they are angry and ashamed for their religion. This is a significant step as the rank and file of Islam have always been under a heavy threat that if they denounce the actions of the extreme group they can expect severe retributions.

There is mounting evidence that this particular cell was intending to do major harm such as destroying the Holy Sagrada Familia church, that is a work in progress and one of Spain’s most treasured icons,  together with the masses of people therein, and other beloved landmarks. As it was they have affected people from 34 countries.

There have been demonstrations all over the country and security measures have been stepped up to prevent more obscenities by drivers simply driving into masses of people.

This is Saturday night, the 26th August, 2017 and a mass demonstration is taking place in the streets of Barcelona led by the King of Spain. How significant is that? We shall just have to wait and see what comes next but it is fairly clear that life as normal will not be it. The line has been crossed and as a country we will not be taking this type of treatment anymore. There was a time when Spain would have simply rounded up all Moslems living here and thrown them out of the country, but as part of the European Union it cannot do that, but the European Union can.

Stay tuned!

Copyright © 2017

Eugene Carmichael