Posted on 03/11/2004 9:25:51 AM PST by nickcarraway
LONDON: As four powerful bombs bloodied the Spanish capital Madrid killing 173, in Europe’s deadliest act of terror after the Lockerbie bombings, major European capitals have begun to wonder if 3/11 - the 11th day of the third month – is meant to be the Old World’s 9/11?
As news filtered in that 13 bombs were meant to go off together in one of Europe’s most historic and vibrant capitals, Britain significantly declared it to be "an assault on the very principle of European democracy".
Spain goes to the polls on Sunday.
Some of Europe’s leading terrorism experts agreed the bombs ahead of ballots could be as significant an assault on Western democracy as 9/11's crumbling twin towers attacked the symbol of Western capitalism.
So could it have been al-Qaeda, hooking up for the very first time with a largely secular European nationalist grouping?
Could the world’s most feared, faceless and fabulously inventive Islamist terrorist group really be wreaking revenge for Spain's controversial participation in the US-led, UK-backed militaristic coalition against terror?
And if so, is Britain, America’s closest ally in the war on terror, next?
Officially, Spain does not think it is al-Qaeda. With European capitals shuddering at the thought that al-Qaeda might have left its calling card right at the heart of Europe, Spain’s interior minister Angel Acebes blamed the homegrown ETA. ETA is fighting a violent separatist campaign to free the Basque region.
But in a deepening mystery, a leader of ETA’s banned political wing, Herri Batasuna, said "Arab resistance", not ETA, was not to blame.
The denial, said ETA expert Professor Paul Heywood, was unusual. ETA has nearly always claimed responsibility in 35 years of attacks, which claimed 800 lives altogether. If ETA were proved to have pulled off the Madrid spectacular, it would be assured undreamt-of publicity.
The Basque blame for "Arabs" blew a chill wind threw European chancelleries. But, some leading British security analysts said there was a risk of terrorist groups using al-Qaeda and Islamist resistance as a fig leaf for their actions.
Even so, some of the world’s leading experts on ETA admitted they are puzzled by the unprecedented scale of the attacks.
The modus operandi too, with unannounced coordinated multiple blasts perfectly timed for the rush hour and maximum human suffering were unusual, said a leading authority on ETA, Paddy Woodworth in Dublin.
With worrying candour, Professor Paul Wilkinson, a leading terrorism expert at St Andrews University, said al-Qaeda's handiwork or not, the attacks may underline the al-Qaeda effect on global terrorism.
"Terrorist groups learn from each other", he said.
Late on Thursday, Tony Blair said the attacks underlined the worldwide terrorist threat. The president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, said it was "a declaration of war on democracy".
Spain’s wannabe prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, who heads the governing Popular Party, said it was a "massive assassination which has plunged democracy into mourning".
In excel dates are converted to serial number. The serial number for 9-11-01 is 37145, and the serial number for 3-11-04 is 38057. The difference between to two is 912. This means 3-11 is the 912th day after 9-11-01 (remember 2004 is a leap year). So if you do not count 9-11-2001 OR 3-11-04 then there would be 911 days between the two dates.
Everybody's been trying to get me to learn excel but I've never gotten around to it. Thanks for the info.
Not really. 9-11-2001 was the anniversary of the Battle of Vienna on 9-11-1683 where the Polish army under General Sobieski routed the Turks from Vienna. That was the last time Muslims threatened Europe militarily.
Do it with the times of the attacks and it is 911.72 exactly
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