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honorable principles. Conservatives insisted
that initial intelligence had actually sug-
gested an ETA role and continued in later
months to insist that ETA had at least given
some help to Islamists in what was undeni-
ably a primarily Muslim act of terrorism.
Zapatero made some gestures to improve
relations with Washington, but these had
little effect, and the new Socialist govern-
ment became increasingly aligned with
Paris and Berlin in opposition to U.S. Mid-
dle Eastern policy. More serious for Spain
than the weakening of its ties with the
United States was the growth of a domestic
crisis over the Muslim population of the
country. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims
were living legally in Spain by the end of
2005. Their cultural activities, their reli-
gious sites, and their special claims on pub-
lic institutions were recognized by the
authorities. An equal number were believed
to have entered the country illegally. At
least some of the latter were suspected of
ties to the Madrid bombings and with other
terrorist actions, including those that had
taken place in the United States in 2001
and with those that occurred in Britain in
summer 2005. Moreover Muslim confron-
tations elsewhere in Europe during 2005-
06 heightened tensions in Spain. Ranging
from protests in Germany, Belgium, and
the Netherlands to massive rioting and van-
dalism in France, these episodes created
increasing anxiety. All Europe seemed to be
caught up in a “war of civilizations.” The
Zapatero government sought to ease rela-
tions between Islamic and non-Islamic resi-
dents while keeping open lines of
communication with the Muslim countries
of the Middle East. Nevertheless, scarcely a
week passed without security forces uncov-
ering some new cell of Islamic militants in
Spain. Judicial investigations opened
against some of those individuals found
evidence linking them to the Madrid attacks
or even to the planning and execution of
the atrocities in New York and Washing-
ton. Spain began to be revealed as having
been for some years past a major refuge
for planners of Islamist terrorism, rivaling
in this regard Italy and Germany (coun-
tries which had hitherto been regarded as
“soft” on Muslim extremist residents). It
was easy for conservatives to make facile
references to the medieval struggle between
Muslims and Christians in Spain. Islamist
extremists made such historical incite-
ments easier by talk of reviving a Muslim
caliphate extending from the Persian Gulf
to Iberia's coasts. Clearly Spain was mov-
ing into a time of crisis.
Spain and the United States
The history of Spain's relations with the
United States is, of course, much shorter
than the history of Spain in the Americas,
which can be traced back to 1492, or in that
specific part of the Western Hemisphere
that is now the United States, whose local
history forms part of Spain's complex record
of exploration, theoretical claims, and tran-
sient ownership. Putting aside this “prehis-
tory,” it is no exaggeration to say that Spain
was “present at the creation,” for it watched
with interest and encouragement the proc-
lamation of the new nation in 1776 and
committed itself to direct support for inde-
pendence in 1779. Like its ally, France,
Spain was moved by the practical desire to
inconvenience an old enemy, Great Britain,
so France and Spain gave military and naval
aid to the rebellion. Perhaps Spain's most
notable contribution to the Revolutionary
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