Who committed the attacks in Spain this morning?

[JohnLocke]

[Andy_Stephenson]

1. Bushco

bombs for everyone.

[HEyHEY]

2. I'm suprised more wouold say Islamics than basques

It would seem the latter would be the choice everyone would go for.
Looking at it from Al Qaida perspective....why would they hit Spain? Where there is the confusion of who may have done it?

Just throwing the question out there....

3. aznar was a major backer of the invasion

Spain is part of the coalition of the willing.

I voted how the hell would I know however.
I think it's too early to say.

edited for typos, damn internet cafe keyboards

[arcos]

4. Who met at the Azores just a few days before the war?

Bush, Blair and Aznar.

[Jacobin]

5. Also they blew up some Spanish embassy in Morocco

a few months ago.

[noahmijo]

6. Spanish GOVT support the war

The people were overall against it.

It could've been some radical Islamic group who wanted to "punish" the govt by punishing the people. The fact that most Spanish people are Catholics makes them worthy targets to such terrorists as well.

[wuushew]

9. How is that? The Pope opposed the war

Are you referring to the Crusades? If I was a terrorist I would go after all those proselytizing fundies in Iraq before I go after innocent Catholics.

[ButterflyBlood]

32. Do you think Al Qaeda care about their religion or political beliefs?

I also doubt they care about the attack on Iraq, since it benefited them and they couldn't care less about Saddam.

[DrWeird]

28. Really?

In this day and age muslims get retroactively blamed for Oklahoma.

[Must_B_Free]

7. Let me put it in perspective for you:

1. Anthrax attacks against Democratic leaders - unsolved, but blamed on Al Qaeda

2. 14 Billion Dollar Energy heist committed against Democratic Stronghold, California, by Energy Brokers who happen to be close to the President. Blamed on Democratic leader of the state who is later deposed.

3. Attack on Democratic Stronghold, NY, changes the course of the ailing Bush presidency - Investigation promised by the Bush administration, but also stonewalled by same. Blamed on Al Queda, although no evidence and a scenario that is full of holes.

4. Evidence fabricated by the Bush administration to rush to war with Iraq on the basis of WMDs that never materialize. Fabrication of a connection between Hussein and Al Queda concocted by Bush Administration.

get the picture? Follow the money and power...

[Jacobin]

12. I don't remember the anthrax attacks being blamed on Osama

Where did you get that?

They were chasing Hatfield for months.

[Must_B_Free]

22. Of course there is no evidence of it

but it was floated in the spin cycle. Remember Saddam supposedly had Anthrax too...

[ButterflyBlood]

20. so that means Basque and Islamic terrorists don't exist?

what you are basically arguing is that because the BFEE has done some shady activities ALL terrorist attacks are automatically their fault.

[leesa]

8. Azner probably has the most to gain and is the biggest terrorist in

terms of per-capita deaths caused. I vote for him or his good pal Bush, who has by far more blood on his hands than any 'terrorist'.

[blm]

10. Bush Family Evil Empire

No doubt.

[Andy_Stephenson]

18. We do agree on things!

Amazing.

:hi:

[ButterflyBlood]

21. no doubt? where's the evidence?

n/t

[Andy_Stephenson]

33. Covered up and hidden away

just like everything else they have done.

[ButterflyBlood]

35. actually it was done by Bill Gates

he just covered up the evidence like all the terrorist attacks he does.

prove it. Give evidence aside from the fact that they're evil. We know that. But WHY? Where's the links? You sound like the Freepers blaming Clinton for everything that ever goes wrong.

[Ksec]

11. wow - lots of conspiracy theorists here

Not that theres anything wrong with that. Theres actually a few conspiracies I buy into . But to think the Bushes are smart enough to plot world domination is well...stretching

[Andy_Stephenson]

19. How old are you?

Not very old if you don't understand what they are capable of.

[Zero Gravitas]

13. Don't know

The simultaneous attacks and the mass killing certainly have the appearance of al Qaeda (I immediately thought it was them when I first heard about it) but I really have no idea. From what little I know about the previous ETA attacks it does not seem like one of their attacks, but I can't say that I follow Basque separatism closely.

The Spanish say they found a van with detonators and Islamic materials in it. Maybe these attacks were suicide bombings?

[TruthIsAll]

14. Synbiosis: Every time Bush is in trouble, the Al Qaeda bogeyman comes

through to keep focus on the terra. He is the great War President, after all. He protects us. Without Al Qaeda, he would have nothing.

It's the BFEE/Al Qaeda connection. That should be obvious.

It is a symbiotic relationship.

[ButterflyBlood]

29. This won't cause a single jump in Bush's ratings

and another terrorist attack here proves exactly that he's incompetant at defending the nation.

[atre]

36. Not putting on my tinfoil hat...

... but Aznar is up for re-election, and losing badly, in just two days time.

[Zero Gravitas]

30. I don't understand

How does murdering a couple of hundred Spaniards demonstrate that War-President Bush is "protecting" us? :shrug:

You say there is a "BFEE/Al Qaeda connection" (its not at all obvious to me) so Bush calls up Osama on the satellite phone and asks him to kill a bunch of people? and you think that will make Bush's approval ratings go up?

If this is al Qaeda I would think it would be yet one more reason for people to think that Bush is a total fuck up. Maybe if he had kept the focus on al Qaeda instead of invading Iraq this could have been prevented.

[Minstrel Boy]

15. The militant wing of the Carlyle Group.

The intelligence asset, al Qaeda.

[anti-NAFTA]

16. CIA and CIA agent Osama Bin Laden. eom

[mmm]

17. Sharon, of course!

[Zero Gravitas]

31. Ozzy's wife did it?

nah! ;)

[many a good man]

23. AQ, of course

Spain is the European country most respected by Arabs. Arab culture flourished in southern Spain for about 700 years while the rest of Europe was mired in its Dark Ages. Spain honors the cultural and intellectual heritage of this part of their history, in some respects even more than some Arab countries do. Its one reason why Madrid was trusted to host I/P conference a few years back.

Al Qaeda is antithetical to science, culture and learning and thus rejects that which Spain honors. Although 90+% of the population opposed the Iraq war, Spain is a leader in the worldwide fight against terrorism. This makes Spain an appealing target to the fanatics in Al Qaeda.

Remember elections in Spain are this Sunday. Aznar and his Partido Popular run on their staunch anti-terrorist record. They have long been the strongest advocates of harshly cracking down on ETA. Many believe he joined in the "coalition of the willing" just to get US and UK help in putting ETA on the international terrorism watch list and freezing their funding.

If the attack was by ETA that would just encourage more Spaniards to support his party. On the other hand, if Al Qaeda was to blame, Aznar and the PP look bad for bringing this tragedy upon the country because of his cooperation in the illegal and unpopular war against Iraq.

This attack was most assuredly the work of Al Qaeda. Can we expect a similar act of terror three days before our election in November?

[_Jumper_]

24. The preponderance of known evidence points to the Basques

n/t

[many a good man]

25. Doubtful

I haven't heard one shred of evidence linking it to ETA. Only ungrounded accusations by the ruling conservative party.

Has ETA every denied an attack before?

[_Jumper_]

26. They had to in this case

This was Spain's 9/11. If they are behind it they are toast.

Why would Al-Qaeda attack Spain instead of the UK or Australia first?

[ButterflyBlood]

27. they actually did target Australia not too long ago

with the attack on the Australian tourist hotspot in Bali. Perhaps Spain was a less likely target, so it'd be more unexepected and easier to pull off?

[jokerman93]

34. My take is

My take is, this event was perpetrated by a cell of Muslim extremists who are all calling themselves Alqueda these days.

The reason is, as a few people pointed out up-thread, Spain stood with America and Great Britain in the criminal invasion and plunder of sovereign Iraq; each country jonesing nostalgic bad for the glories and spoils of some remembered empire of their own...

I feel this is the beginning of the real terror war which was engineered in Washington somewhere between the PNAC think tank offices and the oval office. Inevitable empire will follow the destruction and reconstruction of the geo-political map.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have conjured our perfect war.