Act of Terrorism or Political Attack Ad?

It’s coming out now that it is possible that the recent attacks in Spain were coordinated to coincide with (and influence) that country’s elections, as a response to the Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s support for the American invasion of Iraq.

I’m hearing a lot of reasonable analysis that, because of the attacks, the incumbent and his conservative party lost traction with voters and, therefore, the election.

I’m not crazy about the current administration in this country. But, looking ahead to November, I’m less fond of the idea of the attacks in Spain being an al-Qaida test drive for using terrorism to influence elections by punishing citizens of countries whose incumbent leaders supported or led the charge in Iraq.