Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos, 10 Jul 07:

Spain's Counter-Terrorism Policy Under Challenge by Al-Qaeda and E.T.A.
The Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (E.T.A.), in a June 5 statement published by two Basque pro-independence newspapers Berria and Gara, said that it would end a 15-month cease-fire and resume its terrorist campaign "on all fronts to defend the Basque homeland." The declaration comes less than three months after al-Qaeda issued new threats against Spain, this time over its military deployment in Afghanistan. In a March 2007 video, a hooded man said the presence of Spanish troops in Afghanistan "exposes Spain again to threats" unless they withdraw their troops from the country. "The Spanish people have been tricked by a Socialist government which withdrew troops from Iraq and sent 600 to Afghanistan," the man proclaimed.

The dual terrorist threats, one from at home and the other from abroad, confirm what many political analysts have been saying for a long time: Despite the best intentions of the Spanish government, its counter-terrorism policy has not yielded the desired results. Indeed, the terrorist menace is posing a formidable political challenge to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has been widely criticized even from within his own party for a series of policy missteps that have contributed to Spain's deteriorating security situation....