Death Toll at 50 and Rising

That's the bad news we start our weekend on; unfortunately, there are still a number of bodies that haven't been recovered, so that's not the end of it. If one searches for silver linings from such a horrible event, perhaps we can make the inference, as others wiser than me have, that the small size of the explosives and the relatively (though still gruesomely high) smaller casualty count in comparison to Madrid and 9/11 mean that Al Quada's 'spectaculars' are getting harder and harder to pull off.

Iranian commentator Amir Taheri puts it well in the Times of London:

...You are dealing with an enemy that does not want anything specific, and cannot be talked back into reason through anger management or round-table discussions. Or, rather, this enemy does want something specific: to take full control of your lives, dictate every single move you make round the clock and, if you dare resist, he will feel it his divine duty to kill you.

No quarter, then; no attempts at 'understanding'; and for God's sake, no compromise; victory is all we can or should settle for. You cannot eliminate terror any more than you can eliminate poverty; but you can adopt the policies and military strategies that will make it rare, and punish severely those states who look the other way. This war is not some abstract electoral strategy meant to keep the 'neocons' in power; it is very real, and it is a ways yet from being won.