Madrid Attacks May Have Targeted Election, Wiretaps Bolster Theory...

[Rose Siding]

MADRID -- Seven months after bombs exploded aboard morning commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people, the precise motives of the attackers remain unclear. But new evidence, including wiretap transcripts, has lent support to a theory that the strike was carefully timed to take place three days before a national election in hopes of influencing Spanish voters to reject a government that sent troops to Iraq.

Some analysts argue that the placement of important clues -- particularly a videotaped claim of responsibility by a masked Islamic militant discovered two days after the March 11 attacks -- was aimed at quickly establishing that the attacks were a reaction to the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq and generating a backlash against the ruling Popular Party.

The party had a comfortable advantage in opinion polls but lost the election on March 14. The new Socialist party government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero quickly kept a campaign pledge to withdraw Spain's 1,300-troop contingent from Iraq. It also set about improving relations with neighboring Morocco, after two years of tension under the government of the previous prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar.

Newly disclosed wiretaps of an alleged organizer of the bombings expressing glee that "the dog Aznar" had been put out of office have prompted some analysts here to conclude that the perpetrators sought to try to bring about specific reactions through the attacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38817-2004Oct16.html

[Maple]

1. Ongoing territorial dispute

not connected to al qaeda, 911, or anything else.

Just hype.

[bemildred]

2. Bullshit.

:puke:

[acmavm]

3. Newly disclosed? Like maybe today and leaked by the White House?

Or maybe within the last couple of days???????

What difference whether or not it was an act planned to influence the election. I hardly think that the terrorists knew that the Spanish government would LIE about the attackers.

And I think that fits in nicely with the theory that bush* and blair made us all unsafe by attacking Iraq. I think this could be used to hurt bush*, if it's used right.

[Cha]

4. Is this the wash post whoring

for blinky? Well, in any case that guarantees we won't have a terrorist attack before our election..

We already had one and bush inc was asleep at the wheel as usual.

[clydefrand]

5. So does that sound like the terrorists just might try to do the

same here?


Newly disclosed wiretaps of an alleged organizer of the bombings expressing glee that "the dog Aznar" had been put out of office have prompted some analysts here to conclude that the perpetrators sought to try to bring about specific reactions through the attacks.

[daleo]

6. The explosion was caused by Basque separatists

I thought that had been firmly established. Maybe they were glad that Anzar was given the boot, but it has nothing to do with Iraq, etc.

Pro-Bush stories will be hot and heavy for the next two weeks or so. If the election is contested like last time, they will go on for many more weeks.

[smirf]

8. "Wag the Dog"?

Poss. to set up for Nov 2, and another Color Code alert?

icbw

--
Paranoid? nah, too many bad stories

[newyawker99]

18. Hi smirf!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. No, I think everyone accepts it was Islamicists who did the bombing

the Basque theory was the initial reaction of the then Spanish government - and many voters were pissed off that they started to blame ETA for what appeared to be their own political purposes.

Right at the end of the article, we also get this:

Some people who have closely followed the investigations suggest that the bombings were not specifically timed for the election.

In other intercepted telephone conversations reported by El Mundo and broadly confirmed by Spanish authorities as accurate, Ahmed was overheard saying the planning for the March 11 attacks took 2 1/2 years. That would mean it was in motion well before the election was called, and trying to influence the vote became a secondary objective, if an objective at all.

Some experts believe the elections only provided the attackers a chance to make a bigger impact, but they did not necessarily set out to change the result of the vote. The experts also said that because the police had shifted their focus to the ETA for the elections, the date may have been chosen because it afforded a better chance to execute the plot undetected.

so really the headline is just unsupported theorising. The timing of the release of the story is very suspicious, given when the phone taps occured.

[daleo]

15. You're right of course.

The Spanish public was angered by Aznar's attempts to try to not link the bombing to the Iraq debacle.

"Investigations are continuing into who was behind the bombings.

Voters defiant after the horror of Thursday's bomb attacks

Initially, the government was adamant the Basque separatist organisation Eta was responsible, but now it has been forced to admit that al-Qaeda has become the top suspect.

A videotaped claim of responsibility by a man identifying himself as al-Qaeda's military spokesman in Europe forced the government to change its stance. ""

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3511280.stm

[Minstrel Boy]

7. June 21, The Times: "Bomb squad link in Spanish blasts"

Bomb squad link in Spanish blasts
from Edward Owen in Madrid
Times of London, June 21

The man accused of supplying the dynamite used in the al-Qaeda train bombings in Madrid was in possession of the private telephone number of the head of Spain’s Civil Guard bomb squad, it emerged yesterday.

Emilio Suárez Trashorras, who is alleged to have supplied 200kg of dynamite used in the bombs, had obtained the number of Juan Jesús Sánchez Manzano, the head of Tedax.

The revelation has raised fresh concerns in Madrid about links between those held responsible for the March bombings, which killed 190 people, and Spain’s security services, and shortcomings in the police investigation. Señor Suárez Trashorras and two other men implicated in the bombings have already been identified as police informers. Other members of the group had evaded police surveillance, despite concerns within the security services about their activities and evidence of their association with al-Qaeda.

The telephone number of Señor Sánchez Manzano was contained in a Civil Guard dossier handed to Juan del Olmo, the investigating judge, at the National Court in Madrid. The number was written on a piece of paper found in the possession of Carmen Toro, the wife of Señor Suárez Trashorras. Both are in custody accused of supplying dynamite used in the Madrid bombs.
http://avantgo.thetimes.co.uk/services/avantgo/article/0,,1150429,00.html

[lovuian]

10. I don't believe this!!!

This is a set up by the press so that if a bombing in America happens Bush will say terrorists want to change the election!!!

Oh PLEASE Washington Post!!!

[madrchsod]

11. the french warned spain several weeks before the blast.

the french were actively pursuing people who were planning to blow up their rail system and warned the police in spain. the police knew something was going to happen but removed extra security before the blast. the oil spill , the basque lie,and war blew the election for bush`s lapdog.

[July]

12. Load of crap.

That the Republicans have been selling since it happened.

I talked to several Spaniards at the time, and I can say that, if they can be trusted -- and they can -- this notion is unadulterated bull.

[blm]

13. That's a planted story if I ever saw one.

.

[SoCalDem]

14. Were the words "Workin' hard" (in a fake accent) on those tapes??

:)

[ibegurpard]

19. Snarf!

More likely: "Muy difficult trabajo"

[Media_Lies_Daily]

16. "New evidence"?? Was it manufactured by that Pentagon-based...

...NeoCon intelligence group known as OSP?

[gottaB]

17. too many anonymous sources --n/t

[Zorra]

20. Wiretaps discovered by Karl Rove among Bu$h AWOL records at

the White House Office of Special Plans?