Falling Reign in Spain

Slate - Sam Schechner:The New York Times fronts an accompanying news analysis that explicitly highlights the proxy blow Spaniards dealt to President Bush, who has often relied on Aznar to round out his "coalition of the willing." The Wall Street Journal, for its part, fronts a piece on the political fallout across Europe (subscription required), which may have other pro-Bush governments questioning their resolve. "We cannot escape the hypothesis that we are a target," said the head of Poland's intel service.

But the Washington Post notes in its lead, USA Today notes in its Cover Story, and NYT mentions in yet another article inside, that a more determining factor may have been outrage at the government's tone-deaf insistence—out of what some said was political self-interest—on blaming Basque separatist group ETA for the attack. According to separate articles on the investigation that the Los Angeles Times and WP front (and the NYT stuffs), the Spanish government further backed away from that original position yesterday, announcing that one of the three Moroccans arrested on Saturday in connection with the bombing had been linked last year to an al-Qaida operative who helped prepare the Sept. 11 attacks.