Europe’s old-fashioned terrorists run for cover in an al-Qaida world
Not so long ago, when a bomb went off in London, you could be sure it was the Irish Republican Army. If the target was Madrid, that meant the Basque separatist group ETA. But al-Qaida has shattered the old certainties — and accelerated the decline of European paramilitary groups that peg their survival to a bedrock of public support. The continent’s two most entrenched bands of outlaws, the IRA and ETA, have taken their biggest peacemaking steps in the shadow of al-Qaida carnage. Full Story