[An.American.Expatriate]

Not sure about the "one week" story - is a bit of a reach, but "could" be true ("courier" who needed a cover story comes to Darmstadt and stay with a "friendly" but otherwise "innocent" colleague - checks out the local college [interestingly Darmstadt University = DU] then returns to "the front").

The group with "violent tendencies" refers to others who have lived in southern Hesse for "many years" and are "known" to the BKA, LVA etc... There was some talk of a mosque in Frankfurt which has been under investigation.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion regarding the "suspects".

As I read it, we have:
1) The man who came to Darmstadt in Oct 2003 (info was requested on him from the Spaniards in 2002, but the German response was "I know nothing!")
2) Several other Moroccans arrested in Spain who had previously lived "for many years" in Hessen and where known to have had "violent tendencies".
3) Possibly some Syrians "somewhere" in Germany.
4) the resident of the apartment in Darmstadt (not the same as the courier).

So - hypothesizing -

In 2002 "The Electronics Guy" becomes known to the Spaniards. Obviously he must have been involved in some type of "subversive" activity. At this time, the Spaniards, for whatever reason, assumed that German Intelligence Agencies might know something about him. No information was provided, but his name was registered in Germany.
In October 2003, the Electronics guy travels to Darmstadt and lives temporarily at a safe house. For cover, he looks into enrolling at DU (enrollments are done in the summer!!). During this time he meets with the foot soldiers and informs them of the progress of the plan.
After one week, he returns to Spain to finalize preparations with the local group.
Neither the German nor the Spanish group would know about each other - only the electronics guy knows "who is who".
he may also have received instructions from his leaders while in Germany (the Syrians??).
The foot soldiers depart for Spain - probably as individuals and spread out over the course of several weeks. The departure of "known extremists" for points unknown did not seem to cause the Germans any headaches.
Probable arrival in Spain - end of February.
The Electronics Guy runs them through the plan (dry runs) several times prior to 3/11.

[rrrod]

seems germany is a hot bed of activity

[americanbychoice2]

An interesting headline in the Bild:
Over 300 Extremists live in Germany. All are known to the Police. However, you can't watch them 24 hours a day.

My thoughts on this: It would be real easy to watch them, put them in a cell and close the door. It would only take one person?
Most Germans would love to stick their heads in the sand, forgetting that their ass@##%les would become an inviting target.
I give up...........