UNTIL now the authorities in Spain had always seemed to have handled the investigation into the Madrid massacre with commendable competence. The majority of the terrorists were tracked down and the subsequent lack of attacks would seem to suggest that that particular cell of Al-Qaeda bigots was effectively smashed.
Unfortunately it has now been revealed that the Spanish police made an alarming blunder in the days immediately following the Madrid bombings. A hire car reported as stolen was found in a suburban station car park close to a van used by the attackers. Incredibly the police returned this vehicle to the rental company without for a moment associating it with the terrorist operation. The hire company thus began to clean the car, destroying important clues. It was only when the cleaner spotted a suitcase with suspicious material inside that the police were called and the full significance of the vehicle was appreciated.
It is hardly surprising that the Spanish authorities have waited for almost a month before releasing news of this embarrassingly late find. In the circumstances, minute forensic examination of the car might not have added very much to the case against the surviving terrorist suspects. Nevertheless the only weapon that the world has against these ruthless terrorists is the minute examination of any and every piece of evidence. Thus in any terms, the Spanish police have made a serious blunder.
Unfortunately poor decisions are often made when law and order authorities are struggling to cope with the consequences of momentous crimes. Confusion and muddle arise easily as decision-makers are suddenly deluged with an almost unmanageable series of high priority demands.
It is the terrorist’s ability to choose the moment of his next attack and to plan his retreat that makes the handling of these outrages so difficult. Good intelligence may prevent a crime taking place, but if the killers avoid that protective screen, they will expect to escape back to their lairs during the temporary chaos that follows their murderous assault. Successful management following a terrorist outrage must fall into two separate but closely coordinated tasks. The first is the heartbreaking business of freeing the dead and injured while damaging as little as possible any clues left behind. The second is for the authorities to stand back from the tragedy and put into operation as calmly as possible plans that will immediately seek to analyze both the crime itself and just as importantly the terrorists’ escape route.
Spain will have learned from the bloody lesson of Madrid just as here in the Kingdom, after initial shock, the police and security forces have developed a vigorous response to Al-Qaeda. No one can lower his guard and everyone must be prepared. Elementary mistakes, such as that with the Madrid bombers’ rental car, must not occur. When international terror is finally defeated, it will have been by forensic examination of the tiniest bits of evidence gathered by alert and careful investigators.
