Posted on 03/02/2005 7:02:15 AM PST by Alex Marko
MADRID (Reuters) - The Madrid train bombers had detailed plans of New York's Grand Central Station, indicating they also planned to attack there, a Spanish newspaper reported Wednesday.
Hand-made drawings and other "highly specialized technical information" about the station were found on a computer disk seized from the home of one of the suspects, El Mundo reported, citing sources close to the investigation.
The disk was confiscated within two weeks of the attacks on March 11, 2004, that killed 191 people in Madrid, but Spanish investigators did not warn the FBI and the CIA until December when the full scope of the technical information became clear, El Mundo said.
"Prosecutors at the High Court have informed the FBI and the CIA that the perpetrators of the March 11 attacks had in their possession plans to attack Grand Central Station in New York," it said.
No one was immediately available at the Interior Ministry to comment.
The disk was found in the home of a man arrested on suspicion of playing a role in the attacks that rocked Spain three days before a general election, El Mundo said.
The suspect, who El Mundo said had a relationship with other men formally accused in the probe, was released from jail but remains under suspicion. His brother is wanted in another investigation into a suspected al Qaeda cell in Spain, it said.
Ten bombs hidden in sports bags exploded on board four packed commuter trains last March 11 in an attack claimed by men saying they acted in the name of al Qaeda in Europe in response to Spain sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The same group is suspected of planting a bomb on a high-speed rail line south of Madrid a few days after the deadly attacks, and seven prime suspects later blew themselves up in a suburban Madrid apartment when surrounded by police.
Some 70 people have been arrested in the criminal investigation, about half of whom remain in jail or under court supervision.
and just think, the left in spain put a socialist into office.
Could the new socialist and hate-America regime in Spain be willfully withholding knowledge of a terrorist attack on America?
So did Hillary call off the attack when it was clear she wasn't going to get the 2004 Democrat nomination?
According to NATO and U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia, there are no AQ forces in Bosnia, never.
It will be interesting to learn where the blueprints of Grand Central came from.
So the disk was confiscated in March of 2004 and the FBI and CIA were notified in December.
Why are we learning about this now? Could it be that this story has been deliberately floated at this time to provide political support for the re-authorization of the Patriot Act that is being considered by Congress?
The Patriot Act is in no danger of being axed.
No, but there may be a push to expand it, modify it, etc.
The Patriot Act has been instrumental in the arrests of terror cells in the US. Not to mention that it is a recommended initiative by the 9/11 Commission itself. Initially the Clinton admin. forbade the CIA and FBI from communication on al qaeda and other terror groups in the US(1995 Gorelick Memo).
it will be noted that no such attack has taken place. I submit this as evidence that the security detail knows what the **ck it is doing.
Was it because they just decided that they didn't want to?
Of course not. This is why: They didn't because they couldn't. And they couldn't because of the brilliant leadership of President Bush.
Your theory is the most logical, when you add that the EU put tariffs on florida oranges and textiles from the southern US states in an attempted to alter voter perception of Bush thru economical means.
Do you believe they are incapable of obtaining firearms and walking into a mall and shooting up the place?
I believe that the very idea that such attacks are being "prevented" by the Federal government is the height of delusion.
Ya think?
The Spanish will rue the day that they invited the Moriscos to reestablish the Caliphate on the Iberian Peninsula.
Prevented, no. Obstructed, yes.
These people are still complaining about grudges from 1400 years ago. The idea that they haven't done this within a time frame of a couple of years doesn't mean they can't.
The planning of the 9/11 attacks was ongoing for years prior to that day. Concerted action to carry out the plot was ongoing 2-3 years prior to that day. By your standard, we could have looked at intel from 1998-99 about this planning in August 2001, noted that the attack had not come, and reached the conclusion that it had been "thwarted."
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