If it is indeed Al Qaeda that's responsible for yesterday's attacks in Spain, I wonder if they deliberately timed the attacks in an effort to influence Spain's upcoming elections. Spaniards go to the polls on Sunday. The Spanish people are so angry with their prime minister, Jose Maria Anzar, in part because of his support for the Iraq war, that the
Socialist party was running close to even with Anzar's center-right Popular Party in the polls. That was before the attacks. The attacks may shore up support for the ruling party. And there's reason to think that al Qaeda may have an interest in keeping the Popular Party in power. Here's why I think the timing of the attacks
may have been calculated to influence the elections.