Spanish Post-3/11 Antiterror Policy: Zapatero's Tyranny of Circumstance and the Dashing of Good Intentions

Elected on a platform of withdrawal from Iraq after the 3/11 train bombings, Spanish socialists sought early on to embark on an antiterrorist policy of negotiation and dialogue with disgruntled Arab and Basque communities. The socialists' early efforts at achieving a historic accord with the Basque separatist organization ETA and its willingness to accommodate and integrate North African diaspora communities have floundered. Faced with repeated terrorist attacks and plots, the socialists have reversed course and have moved decisively toward a more draconian law enforcement model in their prosecution of Basque and Islamist militants.