New York City, March 4, 2005

3/11 for Spain is the equivalent of 9/11 for the United States, (even
it can
be said, for the World-At-Large as a matter of fact). The bombing of
the
trains of Madrid on March 11, 2003, that left nearly 200 dead and over
2,000
injured, has changed how the Spaniards view their own country and its
interactions with the world.

This month there will be held an anniversary of Spain’s loss of
innocence -
their change of government, their realization of the dangers emanating
from
their Islamic neighbors from across the straits - the fact that
traveling to
Morocco is not just an internal ferry ride but could be part of the
trip to
Iraq - and effectively the entree to Europe for terrorists, drug
traffic,
and unclean money.

CONFRONTING TERRORISM is the name of an international conference on
terrorism, security and democracy that will be held by the Club of
Madrid
Tuesday March 8 - Friday March 11, 2005. The conference will bring to
Madrid current and former heads of state, the UN Secretary-General,
experts,
and citizens, in a debate on how to confront terrorism.

Further, the new Spanish Zapatero government recognizes the Terrorism,
Drug
traffic & Financing connection, and is ready to step up in recognizing
some
of its international responsibilities; it intends to organize, March
29, a
meeting with the Presidents of Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil to
address
the Colombia drug exports - the problems this drug economy created
further
for Venezuela, Brazil, and the United States, while causing money
laundering
in Europe via Spain.

Brazil is in the picture as President Inacio Lula da Silva has tried
to negotiate a solution to the conflict between Colombia and Venezuela
while
also remembering the place of Brazil in the drug traffic. On the other
hand, Colombia is third largest recipient of US foreign aid in the
effort to
combat the drug lords, and combat leftist ideology in Latin America,
but has
not yet developed the tools of Sustainable Development that are a must
in a
serious effort to provide alternate livelihoods to the rural sector in
the
present drug agriculture of Colombia. From personal experience, having
worked with the Organization of American States in their effort to
promote
for Colombia an ethanol-for-fuel project, we were nicely treated by the
government, but told that there was no available land by the
agricultural
sector. Considering Colombia and Venezuela differing management of
their
oil industries, the meeting in Madrid could perhaps be used to point
out
solutions based on sustainable development ideas, giving a new stake to
the
rural population, and thus decreasing present support for terror. At
the
present time, brown, unrefined, cocaine is the “gold” used by farmers
to pay
for the staples needed in their life. This gold is collected, refined,
and
smuggled overseas, providing large funds to further anti-societal
activities
i.e. buying arms and paying for acts of terrorism - in Colombia and
everywhere else.

Further, Spain, under the Aznar government was involved in arms deals
with
Colombia, and now under the Zapatero government is interested in
military
exports to Venezuela. Considering the terrorism implications, and the
fact
that Terrorism Inc. is today global, and includes strange bedfellows,
the
post - 3/11 Spain is being pushed indeed to take position, and to be
rather
helpful to the Spanish speaking world in the Americas, to Europe, and
also,
if possible, to the United States.

Reference: “Spain plans summit to fight Colombia terrorism”, The
Financial
Times, March 4, 2005.
For background please look at the BOOK REVIEWS section under Loretta
Napoleoni.