Juan Cole reflects on a bombing in Madrid by ETA, a Basque separatist group:
I was struck at how little coverage US news organizations were giving this terrorist strike. If the Bush administration were serious about fighting terrorism, surely the FBI and CIA would be flying off to Madrid and trying to catch the perpetrators? There would be extensive consultations between Bush and Prime Minister Zapatero about cooperation in fighting these groups. If these bombings had been carried out by al-Qaeda, it would be front-page news and something of concern to Washington. That it isn't raises the question of anti-Muslimism. Is the difference in the way that the American press responds to ETA from the way it responds to al-Qaeda a form of racism?Why are only some forms of terrorism considered a threat?