The Madrid Train Bombings

We are nearing the twentieth anniversary of the Madrid Train Bombings. This was Spain's version of 9-11. What I have never seen written is the deep history behind it. The bombers were widely portrayed as a bunch of drug dealers, among the immigrants to Spain, that suddenly decided to become jihadists. But there is far more to it than that, whether or not the bombers were aware of it. Despite extensive searching no evidence emerged that Al Qaeda was involved in it.

The purported reason for the bombing is that Spain had sent military forces to join the invasion of Iraq. Several bombs exploded during the morning rush hour on commuter trains around Madrid. Nearly two hundred people were killed. 

Not all of the bombs detonated and this enabled the tracking some of the bombers to an apartment building. As the police closed in on the apartment a massive bomb exploded inside, after the bombers had been heard chanting prayers, killing the bombers and a police officer.

The bombers were Moroccans. Morocco is just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. Moroccan dynasties ruled Spain for nearly eight hundred years. These Moslems from North Africa that ruled Spain are referred to as "Moors", although that is a general term assigned to them by Europeans and that is not what they called themselves. The Moorish conquest of Spain began in the year 711. The Catholics gradually regained control of Spain, beginning in the north, and the "Reconquista" was finally completed in the year 1492.

Moorish control is generally considered as a good time for Spain. Moslems were in control but mostly lived in harmony with Christians and Jews. It was after the reconquest and establishment of Catholic control that the harsh Inquisition began. Jews were expelled from Spain and any Jews or Moslems that remained were forced to convert to Catholicism.

The Moors built magnificent buildings and walls that are the focal point of Spain's tourist industry today. Knowledge thrived in Moorish Spain while the rest of Europe was going through the "Dark Ages". Cordoba grew into a great city as it's university attracted students from across Europe. The southern part of Spain is called "Andalusia" because the Moorish name for Spain was "Al Andalus".

This was the "Golden Age of Islam" and another great center of knowledge was the "House of Wisdom" in Baghdad. The city of Baghdad had been built by the Abbasid Caliphate as their capital after they had supplanted the Ummayyad Caliphate, which had been based in Damascus. The Moors were actually still under the Ummayyad Caliphate but their rule of Spain was a central part of this Golden Age.

Now back to the Moroccan drug dealers in Madrid. Whether or not they ever thought of it they were moving with powerful historical currents. Drugs have sometimes been used as a weapon, such as in Afghanistan. When a country is occupied by a foreign power the battle is not necessarily over. There is the strategy of turning the occupiers into drug addicts by treating them to drugs.

Not only had the Catholics taken away the glorious land of Al Andalus but now they had the audacity to participate in the invasion of Iraq, where the main caliphate was located at Baghdad during the Golden Age of Al Andalus. Whether or not the bombers ever thought of it historical forces were at work and it was time to strike back.

Nearly twelve years after the train bombings in Madrid came the December 2015 attacks in Paris. These weekly visits that we do around the world on this blog actually began with the visit to Paris that I did here to express sympathy after that attack.

I believe that the real reason for the attack on Paris was because Islamic State (IS) was driving a lot of people to flee the Middle East for Europe and the attack was to turn Europe against them so that they would have to stay and live under IS. But there was historical forces at work here too, actually the same forces that were behind the Madrid Train Bombings.

The Moors had gone beyond Spain and conquered quite a bit of France. Their advance was finally halted by Charles Martel. He began the Carolignian Dynasty of French kings and was the grandfather of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor. His tomb is at the Basilica of St. Denis, just north of central Paris, which is also known as the first Gothic Cathedral. The area where the attackers operated from, whether they ever thought of it or not, was right around where the tomb of Charles Martel is located. Like the bombers in Madrid before them, powerful historical forces were at work and they were striking back.