Election Bomb Throwing

The toy bombs at the New York office of the British consulate on the day of the election seem like a weak joke. But they have given me cause to reminisce. I'm thinking back to last year, when one of the more nettlesome questions for my friends with advanced leftist beliefs was simply who don't the bad guys want to be our leaders in the West?

(I know, right away this question presumes that judgments like 'good' and 'bad' are permissible, and that people like al Qaeda, al Zarqawi, and the tin-pan dictators and mullahs trying to build nukes all fall under the 'bad' category. I know there are many who feel that those folks are simply misunderstood, or their threat has been overblown.)

So last fall my leftist friends patiently explained to me that the "bad guys" would much rather have George Bush in power, and not somebody like John Kerry or, uh, Nader. You see, Bush - with his notable tendency to blast people into smithereens - is a good recruitment tool to bolster the ranks of the violent and aggrieved from the Arab Street, whereas a leader like Kerry, owing to his eminent rationality and restraint would be more effective in fighting the war on terror.

Well, this argument always seemed a little ass-over-teakettle to me, and more of a projection of their own immense disgust with Bush, but I let it stand. I even read the inevitable links they sent to articles on antiwar.com and the like.

Then the train attack happened in Madrid, hundreds died, and a few days later the Bush-friendly leadership was dropped for a socialist who promptly removed the Spanish troops from Iraq. I couldn't help but ask - doesn't this run counter to the claim that the terrorists would prefer warmongers in power? What, did these bombers skip the meeting?

An explanation sprang into existence to explain why this still somehow fit the theory, but it was very elaborate. When younger children tell magical stories, they often have that conjunctive aspect of fictitious narrative, the "and then, and then" quality which becomes required when a 4-year-old needs an ad-hoc explanation why the butter fairies worship the marmalade. I recall the explanation for the Madrid bombing seemed very similar, but less endearing.