Talk:2004 Madrid train bombings/Proposed additions

message: Randroide 13:47, 4 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Spain's next leader vowed Wednesday to better coordinate Spain's police agencies, who failed to prevent the Madrid terror attacks despite knowing the whereabouts and potential danger of a top suspect and his links with al Qaeda. ...[]...A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "it's increasingly likely Islamic extremists were involved in these attacks. In terms of assigning responsibility, it isn't clear." ...[]...Spain's law enforcement agencies had been aware at least since 2001 of Moroccan suspect Jamal Zougam's alleged links with al Qaeda and had searched his apartment that year.
Moroccan authorities, who considered Zougam a "very active terrorist," warned Spanish police in June 2003 that Zougam was returning to Spain, the Barcelona daily El Periodico reported Wednesday.
Zougam was arrested on Saturday, along with two other Moroccans and two Indians two days after the March 11 bomb attacks on Madrid trains 
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Randroide 08:46, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

text: While the bombers may have been inspired by Bin Laden, a two-year investigation into the attacks has found no evidence that al-Qa'ida helped plan, finance or carry out the bombings, or even knew about them in advance.
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Randroide 15:09, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

text: Published: 13 March 2004: In the campaign for tomorrow's general election in Spain, the centre-right party led by the two-term Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar, looked to be heading for an easy victory..[]...In the most recent poll, taken on 8 March, the socialists had narrowed the PP's lead to 4.5 percentage points from 6.2 percentage points in an earlier survey. The PP were seen as winning between 168 and 173 seats, short of the 176 needed for an absolute majority. Polls over the weekend said it would win between 162 and 172. Should forensic investigations and security force inquiries reveal today that the attacks were carried out by Eta - a charge denied by the group yesterday - then the PP looks set to seal its lead. 
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Randroide 18:38, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: At first, Spanish authorities were quick to discount the bin Laden link, emphasizing the relatively strong circumstantial evidence pointing to ETA involvement. Some of this evidence is admittedly difficult to ignore. Last Christmas Eve, police arrested several ETA members in Madrid, supposedly preparing for a potential terror attack on the Madrid rail system. Moreover, less than three weeks ago, a van allegedly belonging to ETA was seized en route to Madrid carrying 66 pounds of Titadine and an additional 1,100 pounds of explosive. Titadine, a dynamite-like substance, has been used previously by ETA in its campaign of terrorism—and statements by authorities reveal that the Madrid attacks were caused by packs of Titadine reinforced with PETN or a plastic explosive, each device weighing around 20-25 pounds. 
Randroide 16:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

text: Spanish security disrupted an ETA plot to bomb Spanish railways on Christmas Eve. The attack included two suitcases, which combined carried over 100 pounds of dynamite, planted on a train bound for Madrid. Foreshadowing Thursday's horrors, the bombs were set to explode simultaneously after the train arrived in Madrid. Two more bombs were planted along rural tracks elsewhere in Spain. Less than two weeks ago, Spanish police seized over 1,000 pounds of explosives, of the same type used yesterday, near Madrid....[]...Another possibility is that ETA and Islamists are cooperating. That ETA's statement disavowing responsibility for the bombings blamed them on "Arab resistance" speaks volumes about their worldview. ETA has well-established links to the PLO and ETA members trained in PLO camps in Yemen and Libya.
Randroide 16:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

text: Madrid Bluff? Letter doesn't look like al Qaeda. 
Randroide 16:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

text: But the reaction in the left-wing European press is predictable. The Guardian had already sounded the note the night before the elections in an editorial that reflected the Spanish mood accurately: "We need to take the fight against terror out of America's hands. We need to get beyond the them and us, the good guys and the bad guys, and seek a genuinely collective response. Europe should seize the moment that America failed to grasp." As Spain's left-wing El Pais celebrated the Socialists' "unprecedented" victory, in Libération, the defeat was seen as the price of Aznar's "lies" about al Qaeda culpability. Suddeutsche Zeitung told readers that Aznar was being punished for supporting America's antiterrorism policies in Iraq and elsewhere. In the Independent, Robert Fisk reminded his readers that "The West was warned." He's not referring to September 11, of course.  
Randroide 16:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)