Basque terrorist violence has disfigured Spain for over thirty years. The killers of ETA are known to have links with other terrorist groups including the UK’s Provisional IRA which was for so long supported by money donated by Irish Americans. In its turn the IRA has links with other terrorist groups elsewhere not least in Colombia where two IRA men were caught training left-wing guerrillas.
Though Washington has chosen to focus on terrorists claiming to act in the name of Islam, the Bush White House should not be ignoring these other lethal tentacles that make up global terror. Indeed, despite Washington’s frosty relationship with Paris, the Bush administration ought to be full of congratulations for this week’s major success by the French authorities against the Basque killers. Following the recent arrests of key ETA figures including the organization’s current chief, French police have now uncovered two substantial arms caches in southwest France.
Mortars, machine pistols, assault rifles, handguns, anti-tank rocket launchers and more than 25 kilograms of plastic explosives with detonators and some 100, 000 rounds of ammunition represent a significant loss to the men of violence. They are lethal items that will wreak destruction among innocent victims of the terrorists’ insane campaign of violence. As a result of the capture of so many key personnel and such a hoard of weaponry speculation has begun that this could mark the end of the ETA terror.
There is no doubt that resolute action against terrorists does cause them significant disruption but it would be premature to suspect that this is the end of ETA. Indeed terror organizations have often responded to defeat by going to extraordinary lengths to mount a new outrage, if only to prove that they have not been defeated. However looked at from a wider perspective, ETA has been losing its vile campaign for a number of years.
Ordinary Basques have become weary of the violence and ashamed of the bad name that is has given to the Basque people as a whole. There have been substantial demonstrations against the violence but it would be wrong to think that the killers have lost all their support. Four years ago when their own bomb blew up four terrorists, thousands of ETA sympathizers took to the streets to mourn them, clearly unaware of the irony that these thugs had fittingly suffered the very fate that they were planning to inflict on luckless innocent victims.
Nevertheless setbacks such as these just suffered by ETA should make those who have applauded the terrorists’ actions think again. These dupes may have chosen to overlook the fundamental contradiction that nothing honorable can ever be created with savage and barbarous methods. Now however they can perhaps recognize the tough truth that a modern society of decent moderate opinion can be outraged and injured by terrorism, but it can never be destroyed by the men of violence, who in the end will all fall into the hands of the authorities.
