1,200 troops and $300 million that Spain provided sounds pretty "vital" to me. Spaniards are an emotional bunch, not weak; the election results prove this fact as the Popular Party was set to win in most polls.
So, like the mobsters of the early 1900's, Al-Qaeda has successfully managed a shakedown on a population; back off or more will follow seemed to be the message. It seems there exists more anger towards the Popular Party for helping oust Hussein (a dictator comparable with Hitler) than the actual group that orcestrated the bombing. In short, the masses needed an outlet of anger and definitely found one in the voting booth.
Rarely does anything good come out of a reflexive action taken under anger and fear. Now that Al-Qaeda (I'm making a guess that it was indeed them that bombed the train) knows what will make governments listen, expect more of the same.
I've pretty much accepted that fact that most people on this planet are thick-headed enough to believe that the ONLY time to remove a threat is when it has developed and matured to the point where only MASSIVE casualties and loss of life would ensue, thereby making it "politically correct", popular and ABSOLUTELY necessary to take action.
I'll let you figure out what other time in European history this happened and the results that came from it...
