Emboldening Islamist terror

As reported by the Associated Press, on Monday seven individuals were arrested in southern Spain in what was, according to Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso, "an operation against radical Muslims…planning to commit terrorist attacks." As explained by the daily El Mundo, the cell planned to detonate a truck bomb containing 1,100 pounds of explosives outside the National Court located on a busy avenue in downtown Madrid.

The continued desire of Islamists to carry out attacks against Spain demonstrates that Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist Party’s decision to withdrawal 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq was irresponsible, and proves false the conventional wisdom permeating much of Europe that Islamist terrorism can be appeased. Failure to confront freedom’s enemies in Iraq reveals to Islamists a willingness to capitulate in the face of terrorism, emboldening the enemy to coordinate attacks such as those that were fortuitously thwarted on Monday.