Bomb attack in Madrid

Vader

ofcourse your rifggtht sure your always right wait that should be you're, right?

[again dont take things too serious, pun on words and some wit, Syke knows what Im talkin' 'bout]

You will catch more flies with sugar than with vinigar (or something) but I dont want flies on my food!


I could be nice, take time and explain myself properly, but that takes time and I believe anybody that misinterprets anything does so deliberatly,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,spelling is a bastard,,,,,,,,,,,,,,






There is a time and place for civilty,,,,,,,,,,,,,,manners,,,,,,,,, and this isnt my time and Im not in that place <oh I can think of something funny, but Ill wait till tomorrow>









Yes sir, please and thank you,

gandalf

Vader I was going to warn you for abuse but thanks to that post your banned from Politics for a week.

Gandalf

LegacyUser

socialists win in spain, spanish troops prolly out of iraq in a few months, if it was al qaeda then they'll be smiling from ear to ear, mission successfull !

martarg

Plenty of information, only most of it is in Spanish...

http://www.libertaddigital.com/noticias/noticia_1276216356.html


Well, the names of the two guys arrested with the loaded van were Irkus Badillo Borde and Gorka Vidal Álvaro, and it had already been established back then that they were ETA members... the article also mentions the other two arrested on a train on Christmas Eve... we were not jumping to conclusions when we suspected ETA, all this had already been in the news and was background knowledge on Thursday...

martarg

Well, Zapatero has promised he will withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq in June, but he may not find it as easy as he thinks... I have just seen a CNN reporter stating with all conviction that all this is going to change Spanish foreign policies inside out, but who knows....

I would like to mention one more element in all this story of Spanish participation in Iraq. Apart from Aznar's personal crusade against terrorism, blah, blah, and Spain's situation and influence within the EU, the Iraq business found us in a pretty complicated situation with Morocco, and I am afraid that may have tipped the scales once and for all for Aznar &c. The Moroccan Ambassador had been called back to Rabat a few months before, no-one knows exactly why; at a certain point in time Aznar restructured his ministerial cabinet; he placed a woman as minister of foreign affairs; almost the very next day, Moroccan soldiers occupy a little god-forsaken island off the coast of Morocco, but next to Ceuta, whose sovereignty is a matter of some dispute. Obviously it was a challenge, with a view to test the government's strength, and perhaps be able to repeat the Sahara March on Ceuta and Melilla. As it happened, Europe looked away, but Colin Powell came to the rescue, Spanish soldiers took the island, things got back to normal, the ambassador returned, and we are best of friends with Morocco for the time being. I suspect the US expected some compensation, and I also suspect that Aznar had an idea about whom he should stick with in order to defend Spanish interests....

Evidently I am not saying that he took a wonderful decision or that he had no choice, but I think all that should be part of the analysis as well.... and also, it makes me wonder what Zapatero will do now, because backing out may not be that easy...

shotamoose

Originally posted by martarg
Well, the names of the two guys arrested with the loaded van were Irkus Badillo Borde and Gorka Vidal Álvaro, and it had already been established back then that they were ETA members...

Interesting. In the light of that, it's understandable that people thought ETA were behind the bombings. Don't know what to think now ...

If the recent surge in support for the Socialists has anything to do with fears that Al-Qaeda were behind the bombing AND it turns out to have been ETA all along I think the Popular Party will be entitled to feeling a little bit robbed ...

AmenToThat

Originally posted by BarryFry

Now, if an Iraqi nationalist group claimed responsibility for this, I would at least understand the logic, even if I was appalled at the consequences. But Al-Qaeda do NOT represent the people of Iraq, do NOT represent the Arab world and do NOT represent muslims in general. They represent a much smaller core of support amongst their "people" than IRA and ETA (minorities themselves) could ever claim. They represent a small number of purist psychopaths, and dignifying them any more only aggrandises and encourages them.

Are you sure about this?
How can we tell for sure as most Arab countries dont have democracies so no one really knows in Elections who the Arab people(s) would vote for!

Not being from the Arab world and indeed never having travelled through that part of the world I can only go on material Iv read over the last year or so from various sources and while I agree that the vast majority of Arabs have no connection with Al-Qaeda many at least sypathies with their aims if not all of their activities and indeed at a basic level look to them as the only people standing up to American/western imperialism.
Even mad bad Saddam himself had support among many of the peoples of the Arab world as one who stud up to the American government and as a friend to the Palestinian people not that you would believe this if you judged purely by the actions of the leaders/dictators within the Arab world.

martarg

If the recent surge in support for the Socialists has anything to do with fears that Al-Qaeda were behind the bombing AND it turns out to have been ETA all along I think the Popular Party will be entitled to feeling a little bit robbed ...

Well, don't worry, there is more to the PP's defeat than these bombings ... it is true that these elections have been a little special, to say the least, but the PP had already been steadily losing popularity ever since the Iraq war and a few other issues.... people have participated more, but that is far from a bad thing.... in any case, after these new arrests, maybe it was al qaeda after all....

BattleBoar

Originally posted by BarryFry
But Al-Qaeda do NOT represent the people of Iraq, do NOT represent the Arab world and do NOT represent muslims in general. They represent a much smaller core of support amongst their "people" than IRA and ETA (minorities themselves) could ever claim. They represent a small number of purist psychopaths, and dignifying them any more only aggrandises and encourages them.

I really wish you were right, but the problem seems to be far more widespread than even I had ever imagined based on this poll just released today (from the Scotsman):

British Muslims 'Back Terror Strikes on US'

More than one in 10 British Muslims back al Qaida-style terror strikes on the United States, a poll revealed tonight.

As the anniversary of war in Iraq approaches, more condemned the recent Gulf conflict than attacks on America.

<snip>

Attacks on the US by al Qaida or other groups were viewed as justified by 13% of the 500 British Muslims questioned.

Another 15% said they did not know whether the such attacks are wrong or right.

And these are muslims living in a western country with easy access to targets...

BlitzKrieg

Originally posted by AmenToThat
Are you sure about this?
How can we tell for sure as most Arab countries dont have democracies so no one really knows in Elections who the Arab people(s) would vote for!

Not being from the Arab world and indeed never having travelled through that part of the world I can only go on material Iv read over the last year or so from various sources and while I agree that the vast majority of Arabs have no connection with Al-Qaeda many at least sypathies with their aims if not all of their activities and indeed at a basic level look to them as the only people standing up to American/western imperialism.
Even mad bad Saddam himself had support among many of the peoples of the Arab world as one who stud up to the American government and as a friend to the Palestinian people not that you would believe this if you judged purely by the actions of the leaders/dictators within the Arab world.

But if this is the case is'nt the US etc playing into Al qaeda's hands even more now. Vicous circle...

Mighty_Mouse

I

Its also the reason why the IRA will never succeed in the north.

I disagree.

Johnny 5, a bit of perspective please. If there was a bombing in the North most people would assume one of the crackpot terrorist groups (IRA, INLA etc.) were to blame. Was it unreasonable for the Spanish governemtn to assume that the ONLY group committing terrorist attacks in Spain was to blame for a terrorist attack? If you can't see that, then I'd say you're blinded by some personal agenda.

No I'm afraid you have missed the point if you are blaming republicans of being blinded by personal agenda here.

The second the Madrid bombings happpened certains posters saw it as an opportunity to link republican/IRA/Sinn Fein activity to the bombing and get a little Shinner bashing in while they could.


martarg - your posts are very interesting but if you could break em up and space them out a little it would make them easier to speed read.

bonkey

Originally posted by Mighty_Mouse
The second the Madrid bombings happpened certains posters saw it as an opportunity to link republican/IRA/Sinn Fein activity to the bombing and get a little Shinner bashing in while they could.

I would have said that was because there was a minimum of 2 extremely busy threads ongoing which were already discussing Sinn Fein and the IRA.

Its a common thing - thread B has some vague relation to contentious and popular thread A, resulting in spill-over : people can't discuss B without referring to A if there is any sort of a link at all.

What I find more interesting is that those who are complaining about it are now generating more noise than those who engaged in a bit of "Shinner bashing" at the start.....which really only goes to show that in terms of using the topic to your own ends, ye are not much different

jc

martarg

martarg - your posts are very interesting but if you could break em up and space them out a little it would make them easier to speed read.

Ok, I'll remember that, sorry.... Yet you have missed my subtle objective, no speed-reading for my posts, but rather careful pondering.... No, seriously, I know I have a problem with wordiness, I'll try to cut it down....