Posted on 11/29/2004 2:54:59 PM PST by jmc1969
MADRID (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Islamic militants tried to use the Madrid train bombings to oust the pro-U.S. ruling party from power in Spain, but not because of its support for the Iraq (news - web sites) war
"These attacks were being prepared long before the Iraq war. They were not the result of the Iraq war even though many people said so," Aznar said during 11 hours of combative testimony on Monday to a parliamentary commission probing the attacks.
The March 11 bombings aboard four packed commuter trains killed 191 people and wounded 1,900 three days before a general election, and Aznar's mistaken placing of blame on Basque separatist guerrillas ETA was widely believed to have helped the anti-war Socialist opposition win on polling day.
"Aznar's hands are covered with blood. ... He is responsible for provoking this ... by involving us in the war," said Carmen Aguado, 52, whose son Juan Carlos, 27, was killed in the blasts.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Aznar Denies Madrid Bombs Were Linked to Iraq War
2 hours, 31 minutes ago
By Daniel Trotta
MADRID (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Islamic militants tried to use the Madrid train bombings to oust the pro-U.S. ruling party from power in Spain, but not because of its support for the Iraq (news - web sites) war.
"These attacks were being prepared long before the Iraq war. They were not the result of the Iraq war even though many people said so," Aznar said during 11 hours of combative testimony on Monday to a parliamentary commission probing the attacks.
The March 11 bombings aboard four packed commuter trains killed 191 people and wounded 1,900 three days before a general election, and Aznar's mistaken placing of blame on Basque separatist guerrillas ETA was widely believed to have helped the anti-war Socialist opposition win on polling day.
Had ETA been responsible, it could have helped Aznar in the election by seeming to justify his hard line against the group.
The Madrid bombings suspects -- mostly North Africans who investigators say were waging an Islamic holy war against the West -- made videotapes claiming the attacks in the name of al Qaeda in Europe and said they were seeking revenge for Spain's dispatch of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites).
Aznar, making the first appearance by a former premier in a parliamentary probe, sought to defend his political legacy and give a boost to the now-opposition party with an appearance marked by political jousting and mutual accusations of lying.
Outside parliament, small groups of pro- and anti-Aznar protestors were kept separated by police.
"Aznar's hands are covered with blood. ... He is responsible for provoking this ... by involving us in the war," said Carmen Aguado, 52, whose son Juan Carlos, 27, was killed in the blasts.
Aznar fiercely fought back against accusations his government was responsible for the attacks because of the Iraq war, saying, "the only ones responsible are the terrorists."
Aznar chose not to seek a third term in the March 14 election and picked his protege, Mariano Rajoy, as the conservative Popular Party's candidate for the premiership.
Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero defeated Rajoy and on taking office immediately made good on his campaign promise to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.
"I am absolutely convinced, as I have said before, that the March 11 attacks sought not only a large number of victims. They sought to overturn the electoral situation in Spain," Aznar said.
He declined to answer which way the election may have been swayed, telling one questioner, "You know."
Zapatero is due to testify on Dec. 13.
THE ETA ANGLE
Aznar defended his decision initially to blame the train bombings on ETA and called for further investigation into possible links between ETA and Islamic militants -- ties that most experts have discarded.
Aznar testified repeatedly that police commanders all believed ETA was the prime suspect until the election eve.
"My conscience is clear...we told the truth about what we knew," he said.
ETA has killed some 850 people during a 36-year-old campaign for Basque independence.
The parliamentary commission aims to offer a public account of the most devastating attack in modern Spanish history and is separate from the criminal investigation.
Some 30 people are in custody or under court supervision for the train bombings, one minor has been convicted, seven prime suspects are dead, and two or three others remain at large.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn)
I've long liked Aznar, yet here he appears as another leader who can't - who won't? - see Islamism for its terror.
(1) Since all parties agree that the attacks were planned well in advance of the deployment of Spanish troops to Iraq, it's pretty clear that the attacks were not directly inspired by the Spanish intervention in Iraq.
(2) There are established links between Basque separatists and virtually every other terrorist organization in the world. In the 1980s IRA, ETA and PLO even terrorists trained together.
(3) Al-Qaeda and bin Laden made their obsessive fixation on "al-Andalus" well-known prior to the attacks.
Of course not they were made because of the loss of Al Andaluz in 1492.
There's a lack of understanding, a projection of how the lefties think the terrorist other should think. The bombers clearly mentioned Afghanistan:
...made videotapes claiming the attacks in the name of al Qaeda in Europe and said they were seeking revenge for Spain's dispatch of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan...
Since Afghanistan doesn't carry the same baggage as Iraq in lefty world ideation, and the Spaniards may have only known their troops in Afstan to be doing good work and appreciated by the locals, Afstan is ignored as inconvenient to their way of thinking. But it's no less important than Iraq. I noticed the new Spanish regime quietly has withdrawn its troops from Afstan. IOW, the leftist regime is folding on exactly what the terrorists wanted, completely, but to admit it would show up the faultiness of their public proclamations.
I could be wrong.. however I believe the point he was making was this.
They were going to bomb us no matter what. The fact that they said it was about the Iraq war was just a means to an end.. to influence us and to make us scared.
They tried to bomb them again not to long ago if you recall.
I've been following this in the Spanish press and radio. Basically, Aznar pointed out that AQ had had Spain it its sights for quite some time, long before Iraq. However, the main question in the hearings at which he was testifying was the claim that he "lied" about the involvement of ETA in the bombing.
First of all, it increasingly looks as if ETA was involved in the bombing. An ETA connected police informant has emerged who was apparently the connection between ETA (which had the cell-phone bombing technology) and the Islamic terrorists, but for some reason, even though the police knew about this well before March 11, they never revealed it to the Guardia Civil or the intelligence services.
Secondly, Aznar was very forthright today in his testimony in pointing out that everyone initially thought it was ETA, which actually would have been very damaging to his party, since one of its boasts was that it had basically conquered ETA during the 8 years of Aznar's government. Secondly, he pulled no punches in pointing out the connections between the Socialist Party and SER, the radio station that first spread all sorts of rumors and which also received tips from the Socialists in the intelligence service - who hated Aznar because he had reorganized Spanish intelligence after an earlier failure - even before Aznar received them.
Yes thats right. Each and every arab bombing must be treated as a totally unrelated event to each other bombing and must be investigated and prosecuted seperately.
To lump them all together and say "they all look the same to me" is racist and ignores that fact that each religious bombing nutjob holds at least one minor belief differently then all the rest. This preculdes the ability to state that they are all united.
[/end bull $hit logic]
Islam != Peace
Bomb Mecca for purely secular purposes.
Thank you. Everything Good to You and Yours.
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