Was that George Bush listening in on phone calls to my grand mother again? Oh no, it was foreign surveilance! OMG!

Once again, law enforcement works.

Once again, a western nation that abandoned the United States in its fight against terror finds that abandonment provides no immunity to terrorism.

Brian - "Once again, law enforcement works."

Perhaps. It's also more forces were at work than just the Spanish police.

Spanish intelligence acted with the help of information from foreign intelligence agencies, Mr. Rubalcaba said, though he did not say from which countries."

Hmmm.. sounds more like a "terrorist Surveilence" program to me and that would be far, FAR out of the purview of the Spanish police.

Of course it could also be something inside Pakistan whether it be U.S. of locally operated.

"Newspaper reports on Sunday said intelligence officials based in Pakistan had tipped off the Spanish authorities about a known Pakistani militant having left Pakistan for Barcelona to help put a terrorist plot in motion. Those reports could not be independently confirmed."

But none of that would fit into your tried and true... er, em false narrative.

Um, I might be wrong, but wasn't the acquiescence of Spain to the demands they pull out of Iraq supposed to protect them from this sort of stuff?

What happened, someone didn't get the memo?

Sheesh - you just can't trust terrorists these days. I mean, they paid their danegeld - WTF is the Dane still hangin' around for?

Oh, that's right. Once you pay danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane...

IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:--
"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:--
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:--

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!"

Rudyard Kipling

And the cost gets higher and higher...

At some point, the danegeld will be too much - and then there'll be real trouble.

Brian:
Law enforcement works as a part of an systematic approach utilizing civil, military, economic, diplomatic, and clandestine leverages and assets. Did law enforcement work in the first WTC, the second WTC, the first Spanish bombing, London subway bombings, Khobar towers, and a few more I missed? I suppose we should've taken Hitler to court over that whole Poland thing.

I bet the Olbermann crowd will either spike this story or claim it was made up by Halliburton.

I didn't say "the police department", I said "law enforcement". That includes foreign intelligence and whatever other legal assets are needed to help local authorities do their jobs.

What it doesn't include is a military bombardment, which SPQR helpfully points out above is not effective in stopping terrorism.

Didn't Edwards tell us this WOT was just a hoax? hmmmmm.....I guess someone needs to tell Spain.

Brian, what kind of hallucination are you undergoing?