173 People Killed in Madrid Explosions

[Gonz]

You don't get the attack on Spain? They've been a ardent supporter on the war on terrorism & Iraq.

 

[chcr]

Yeah, I guess. It all seems kind of, I don't know, disjointed. Not necessarily a bad thing, BTW.

 

[G4]

You don't get the attack on Spain? They've been a ardent supporter on the war on terrorism & Iraq.

So true.

Anyway, there´s so much hatred towards ETA in Spain that many, MANY people are still willing to believe that the basque separatists were responsible of the attacks. As hard to believe as it may seem.

 

[Gato_Solo]

So true.

Anyway, there´s so much hatred towards ETA in Spain that many, MANY people are still willing to believe that the basque separatists were responsible of the attacks. As hard to believe as it may seem.

MADRID, Spain — Just months ago, a taped threat thought to be from Usama bin Laden (search) included Spain among countries that could be attacked "at the appropriate time and place

After Thursday's train bombings in Madrid (search), the government quickly blamed the Basque separatist group ETA (search). But later the interior minister said Islamic terrorism was not ruled out.

Bin Laden's warning was contained in an audiotape in October that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (search) determined was probably authentic.

Spanish and other anti-terrorism officials say Spain was an important European center for Al Qaeda activity before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon believes that Spain, along with Germany, was an important staging ground for the hijackings. Lead suicide pilot Mohamed Atta visited Spain twice in 2001, including a trip that July which Garzon says was called to discuss last-minute details with other senior plotters.

Last September, Garzon indicted bin Laden and nine other terror suspects over the Sept. 11 attacks. Three were alleged to be members of a Spain-based terror cell. Garzon charged 25 other men with belonging to Al Qaeda.

More than 40 Al Qaeda suspects have been arrested in Spain since the attacks, although many have been released for lack of evidence. Tayssir Alouni, a reporter for pan-Arab television channel Al-Jazeera who was arrested last September on charges of belonging to Al Qaeda, also has been released on bail.

In Spain, there are fears that Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's staunch support of the U.S.-led war in Iraq has made the country a target for Islamic terrorists. Aznar has sent 1,300 troops to Iraq, even though most Spaniards opposed the war.

The first official mention of a possible Islamic angle to Thursday's attacks came when Interior Minister Angel Acebes said that police had found detonators and an Arabic-language audiotape with Quranic verses in a van in a town outside Madrid.

ETA, the separatist group that has claimed responsibility for more than 800 deaths in its decades-long campaign of assassinations and bombings for an independent Basque homeland, remains the "main line of investigation," Acebes said.

But with the van find "all kinds of lines investigation open up," he said. "Because of this, I have just given instructions to the security forces not to rule out any line."

Then, the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said it had received a claim of responsibility for the Madrid bombings issued by The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri in Al Qaeda's name.

The claim received by e-mail said the brigade's "death squad" had penetrated "one of the pillars of the crusade alliance, Spain," and carried out what it called Operation Death Trains.

"This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam," the claim said.

There was no way to verify that the claim did come from Al Qaeda, and Spain's government said ETA remained its No.1 suspect. The 10 bombs on four morning rush-hour trains killed more than 190 people, making it the worst terrorist attack in Spain's history.

Some 500,000 of Spain's 42 million people are Muslims, according to government figures. Neighboring France, in contrast, has an estimated 5 million Muslims.

Source

 

[Gonz]

Now we have a why...

At the beginning of the 11th century, three quarters of Spain's population was Muslim but, as soon as the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconquest of the country for Christianity, the Muslims were ordered out.

The humiliation has never been forgotten in the Arab world.

Telegraph

 

[chcr]

Terrorists usually don't have a rational reason, just a ratioanlized one.

 

[Raven]

I'm with the not ETA camp here...if there was going to be a detonation in a public place there would have been a warning...thats ETAs MO..

And Spain isn't a Muslim country....isn't that reason enough for al-quaeda

 

[Inkara1]

But there's a hella-long Islamic history there. Remember the Moors?

 

[Raven]

Yeah I remember the Moors, the are actually attempting to recolonise southern parts of Spain.

But the fact that it is now a (mostly) devout catholic nation I cant see what claim they have to it.

 

[Gato_Solo]

Yeah I remember the Moors, the are actually attempting to recolonise southern parts of Spain.

But the fact that it is now a (mostly) devout catholic nation I cant see what claim they have to it.

It's not too complicated...The Muslims came into Spain by force of numbers, and were thrown out of Spain by force of arms.

 

[Gonz]

Kind of like France will have to do in about 30 years?

 

[G4]

The Socialist Party in Spain just won the elections.
People has really punished the government for recent events...

New York Times

 

[Gonz]

It'll be intertesting to watch what happens when the apologists take office.

 

[Raven]

It's not too complicated...The Muslims came into Spain by force of numbers, and were thrown out of Spain by force of arms.

in other words a my dick is bigger than yours contest

UPDATE: Al Quaeda have claimed responsibility... more info when I find a link

 

[MrBishop]

The Change in politics in Spain will change a few things. The new Minister has said that he's going to be removing all Spanish soldiers from Iraq...basically, bring the troops home. He'll need them, I guess, to bolster his homeland security


As for it not being ETA...I'd think that it wasn't. ETA is more 'personal' in its actions. Kidnappings or politicians, bombing of particular offices etc... the occasional mailbomb, but nothing this drastic, and nothing really aimed at average-José, ya know?

They also NEVER deny attacks that they've done...its bad form.

 

[G4]

Well, the bombing of a cafe in the late seventies that went "wrong" (killed many average Joes) was denied for many years by ETA. But I do agree that it isn´t like them to kill random people like that.

The new Prime Minister will withdraw troops in June, unless United Nations takes control.

Anyway, the Spanish is one of the smallest forces operating in Iraq.

 

[The Other One]

The 'M' word again and they're back to creating things....They shaped an election...I wonder what they want, besides death and destruction...

"The suspect, Jamal Zougam, also has connections to a key suspect in the Casablanca attacks and possibly to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Moroccan official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Al-Zarqawi is a key operative working with Usama bin Laden's terror network who has been blamed in attacks in Jordan, Iraq and elsewhere."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,114291,00.html

 

[chcr]

The 'M' word again and they're back to creating things....They shaped an election...I wonder what they want, besides death and destruction...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,114291,00.html

To rule the world, Pinky...

Seriously, they are religious fundamentalists, and much like other religious fundamentalists, they want to rid the world of or subjugate that which does not explicitly agree with their world view. Unfortunately, many of them live in counties whose administrations not only condone such behavior, but actively encourage it.

 

[MrBishop]

To rule the world, Pinky...

Seriously, they are religious fundamentalists, and much like other religious fundamentalists, they want to rid the world of or subjugate that which does not explicitly agree with their world view. Unfortunately, many of them live in counties whose administrations not only condone such behavior, but actively encourage it.

The remaining fundamentalists unfortunatly live in countries that espouse religious freedom, so they can't be touched until they do something. They can't be monitored, followed, have their phone tapped etc...until something happens or a very strong tip comes in which aims at something violent. Even then, as 911 so painfully reminded us, the authorities might as well have their hands tied behind their back for the job that they do.

 

[AlladinSane]

AFAIK, no one has claimed responsability for it, something that eta always do.

I understand that Al-qaeda used to assume their acts as they did now, but never did about 9/11.