[livius]

Garzon is somewhat of a celebrity in Spain, having worked on numerous high profile cases (and severely disrupting international law in the Pinochet affair). He's quite showy, but then, sometimes he really hits the mark, and he is not easily intimidated. I'd say he's definitely scored with this arrest.

BTW, alert readers may have noted that one of the names of those arrested was not Arabic, but Spanish. The man is indeed a Spaniard, a convert to Islam whose prior activities seem to have included some minor connection with HB, the political wing of the Basque terrorist group, ETA. Both the fact that he was a convert and the fact that he had had some contact (although possibly not extensive) with a domestic SPanish terrorist group make this report even more alarming.

[buickmackane]

"...Ahmad Raghad Mardini..."

This is the name which caught my eye. Punsters could have a field day with this one, LOL!

[Pericles]

Dang. No one bothers to read my links. I post them for a reason. A link from BIN LADEN GATE;

The Balkan Branches of the Terror Network "in search of blond Moslems"

[MizSterious]

"The man is indeed a Spaniard, a convert to Islam whose prior activities seem to have included some minor connection with HB, the political wing of the Basque terrorist group, ETA."

Livius and all--does anyone recall the American Media anthrax attack? One man died, and others had the skin anthrax. One of the first suspects was an intern. Most of us dismissed him as being unlikely, because he was not Arab, but in fact, a Spaniard. Maybe we (including the FBI) should re-think that?

[aristeides]

Wasn't Garzon involved with a case involving Basque terrorists in the past?

Swiss TV journalist Richard Labeviere details in his book Dollars for Terror how some European super-rightists, especially neo-Nazis, have joined the Islamofascist cause, and even converted to Islam. Surprises me, though, that a Basque nationalist should so convert. Aren't the Basques super-Catholic? I'm Irish (Irish-American, actually, but I have plenty of relatives in Ireland,) and, weakened as the church now is in Ireland, I am sure that any Irish nationalist who actually converted to Islam would immediately forfeit all support in the country. Are the Basques any different?