The neocon conspiracy du jour

As a service to the reality-based community, we think it's important to inform our readers that the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy is peddling a new conspiracy theory; the only thing that's not clear yet is the underlying policy goal which the theory will serve. It concerns the 11-M attacks in Madrid, which via their persistence in referring to them as "3/11," they reveal how every world event now gets refracted through the GWoT prism.

To the extent that there's any coherence to the theory, it's laid out in this Frank Gaffney article in the National Review -- but it relies entirely on a single blogger's translation of articles from one Spanish newspaper. The theory is built around some alleged inconsistencies and coincidences in the aftermath of the bombing, and the "connect the dots" spin is that a Socialist or Islamic cell in the police (it's never specified which) participated in and/or misdirected the investigation (it's never specified which) with the goal of ... (it's never specified which).

But this is a case where sourcing is everything. The VRC has never come to terms with the impact of the Aznar government's disastrous decision to blame Basque separatists for the bombing. Check out this catalog of the extent to which the entire focus in the first couple of days was on ETA. As we noted at the time, the cellphone detonators were even used to link the IRA to the bombings, but now form part of the new theory, whatever it is.

And finally there's Gaffney himself. Three days after his article was posted, it still refers to "Islamofacists" which knocks one's confidence in the subsequent ramblings. And Gaffney has peddled theories linking Saddam to the first World Trade Center bombing and even Oklahoma City; as this Slate summary notes, he's well summarised in his nickname "Mini-Perle." For what it's worth, his Madrid theorising seems to hint at Syria connections, indicating where this branch of the VRC is currently aiming.