Spain and Morocco to step up terror surveillance.

I'm so glad that pulling out of Iraq thing worked for them. )Do you think the Dems are paying any attention to this? Nope, me either.)

Spain and Morocco will step up surveillance of the surge in summer tourists travelling across the Strait of Gibraltar because of concern about potential terrorism attacks by al-Qaeda.

According to the Spanish daily newspaper, 'El Pais', the Spanish and Moroccan authorities are deploying thousands of police to check documents and vehicles, and patrol various 'hotspots' along the tourist route that connects the two countries.

Codenamed 'Operation Strait Passage', the joint exercise is designed to stop terrorist organisations from exploiting the congestion caused by the huge influx of people and vehicles entering Spain and the rest of Europe during the next two months.

Spain's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miguel Angel Moratinos, and a representative of Morocco's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Taieb Fassi Fihri, met in Madrid on Tuesday to discuss the joint operation. "There is no concrete information about possible attacks in Spain or Morocco," said Moratinos. "But the situation that exists in the world today means we must enforce the greatest scrutiny."

However...

Every year from June to September the Strait of Gibraltar is a 'bridge' for more than a million people and ferries are filled with hundreds and thousands of vehicles. Many Moroccans and Africans who live in France and Spain return home for their summer vacation. According to Spanish data, this year's traffic is expected to increase by 6 per cent - with 730,000 vehicles crossing the strait and more than 1.5 million people.

In recent days, Rabat has raised the security alert amid fears that al-Qaeda will try and send terrorists to Europe.

According to 'El Pais', police will be reinforced in the Moroccan port cities where vehicles disembark - Malaga, Alicante Algeciras, Ceuta e Melilla and Tarifa.

Last month the newspaper released details of a confidential police report which said Spain was at a 'high' risk of a terrorist attack and intelligence services were concerned about growing extremism among 'second generation' immigrants