Dormez vous?

You saw the pictures from Madrid. You saw the parents cradling their dead and dying children.

Those who did this can do this to you. Whenever they want. They don't care about the nuances of your Israel policies. What did Spain do? No frontline troops in Iraq, 1,300 or so of what could legitimately be called "peacekeepers." Yet Spain got it. Germany isn't in Iraq? So what. Germany is in Afghanistan. And al Qaida makes no distinction there: both are crusades against Islam, in Osama's eyes. France isn't in Iraq? So what. The ban on the headscarf is as offensive as anything you can imagine George Bush doing to them. Go back and read the Osama tapes. You're on the deathlist, too.

They can do this, and now they'll be even more delighted to do it than before, because not only did it accomplish their purpose of killing a lot of infidels in the crusader land, but it actually knocked one enemy out of the crusade entirely. One down. Who's next? Poland? Italy? Britain?

Yet still the Europeans will blame Bush. Still they'll march against the Americans. At what point do you ask the terrorists to be responsible for their own actions. Oh, and they'll call a meeting -- Europeans only, please, no Americans -- and devise a policy on paper, and that will make them feel safe. No doubt the policy will eschew the use of violence to solve this problem. Romano Prodi, the chief of the European Commission, already has said so. "It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists. Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago."

tick tick tick tick