Madrid Bombing Anniversary: One Year Later

Voice of America ^ | 10 March 2005 | Jeffrey Young

[DanielKronlid]

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The Madrid train bombings of one year ago triggered a series of political and social changes that have reverberated across Spain and the European Union. VOA's Jeffrey Young looks at the broad impact of what has been called "Europe's 9/11."

On March 11, 2004, as commuter trains arrived in Madrid, a series of explosions ripped four of them apart. 191 people died and more than 1,800 others were wounded in Spain's worst act of terrorism in modern times.

"The bombings of March 11 in Spain reminded the Europeans that there was indeed a war on terror," said Simon Serfaty, who is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.

The conservative government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar immediately blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for the train bombings. National elections were three days away, and Prime Minister Aznar's government strongly opposed the group. But a day before the elections, a videotape was found near a Madrid Mosque. It announced that al-Qaida had attacked the trains to punish Spain for sending troops to Iraq. The combination of Spanish public opposition ot the war in Iraq and the perception that the government had manipulated public opinion led to Prime Minister Aznar's defeat.

The Socialists, led by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, came into power. Immediately, the new prime minister announced that Spain's 1,300 troops in Iraq were coming home. Esther Brimmer, at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, says Spain's withdrawal had major repercussions for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

"When it became clear that Spain was going to pull out of Iraq, it changed the atmosphere. It became more acceptable for other countries also to say 'we're getting ready to go home,’” she said.

Prime Minister Zapatero's decision also had political implications within the European Union. It marked a shift in alliances for Madrid, which broke ranks with Britain, Italy, and Poland and joined France and Germany, the so-called "old Europe," on a wide range of issues beyond Iraq.

But, common to all EU countries was a heightened awareness that it, like the United States, was a terror target of Islamic radicals. Investigators determined that a Moroccan Islamist group in Spain was behind the Madrid bombings. EU states greatly increased intelligence sharing among themselves to bolster their collective security. Simon Serfaty at CSIS says EU countries came to realize they were more vulnerable to terrorism than the United States. He also says Europe's historic uneasiness with Islam had been forced back to the forefront.

"They were more vulnerable on grounds of geographic proximity, on grounds of economic dependence and on grounds of cultural sensitivity. Because, Europe has had a visceral relationship with Islam that goes back 600 to 800 years," he said.

Muslims once controlled Spain and parts of Eastern Europe. Islam's modern presence on the continent began with people moving from North Africa to France, their former colonial power. Then Turks went to Germany seeking jobs. These Muslims lived in the midst of others, but by and large were not integrated into the mainstream of European society. Charles Cupchen at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington says the failure to reach out to the now more than 20 million European Muslims there reflects the continent's identity of itself as western and mostly Christian. He says it's a problem that must be addressed.

"The relationship between growing Muslim populations in Europe and the broader European society is perhaps the greatest challenge facing Europe today," he said. "And, that's because Europeans don't think about ethnicity in the same way Americans, for example, do. They're not prepared to have a multi-cultural society. They're not comfortable with that yet."

The Madrid train bombings amplified anti-Muslim sentiments in Europe. The attacks confirmed fears among some that people who didn't share to their values and traditions were not only in their midst, but also hostile to them.

Esther Brimmer at the School of Advanced International Studies says the rising tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe may continue to grow in coming years.

"And, that may appear politically in terms of greater support for parties that are either anti-immigrant or anti-those who are seen as different," she said. "And that I think is going to be one of the most important trends to follow in European society."

Anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe has also entered the debate over whether Muslim Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union. Turkey's opponents say a Muslim member state would make it easier for Islamist terrorists to attack from within. Others say Europe will have to come to terms with a growing segment of its population - one largely ignored before March 11, 2004.

SOURCE: http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-10-voa6.cfm

[Onelifetogive]

Madrid Bombing Anniversary: One Year Later

I thing this title is redundant, and say the same thing twice!

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

They're not prepared to have a multi-cultural society. They're not comfortable with that yet."

Then how the heck are they going to have a successful European Union?

[sgtbono2002]

The main difference between Spains, 911 and America's is that America has taken action against terrorists, while Spain has acted like frightened children.

[Zeppelin]

Or as I like to say...

It's repetitively redundant!

[katana]

Europe has had a visceral relationship with Islam that goes back 600 to 800 years

Make that more than a thousand years. The battle of Poitiers in 732 marked where Islam was finally stopped in its attempt to conquer western Europe. Their attempt in the east ended at the gates of Vienna more than 900 years later. Counting to the present day that's about 65 generations of intermittent warfare.

[squirt-gun]

The attacks confirmed fears among some that people who didn't share to their values and traditions were not only in their midst, but also hostile to them.

Islam is a monstrocity..

click below

ghostthegeneral!

[rudyudy]

In the 50's Spain would have sent 1 million soldiers to hunt down these animals. Now they act like cowards.

[sgtbono2002]

Like any other country Spain has its share of cowards. They just have a majority.

[finnman69]

One Year After Madrid

One year after the horrific Madrid train bombings, a Spanish official has asked the media not to show images of the attacks, out of “respect for the victims and their families.”

MADRID, Spain—The newly-appointed high commissioner for the Madrid bomb victims has asked the media to refrain from publishing more images of the March 11 attacks, news reports said.

Gregorio Peces-Barba, who was appointed last Friday by the government, said the victims and their families “are suffering from solitude and deserve respect.”

Speaking to Catalunya Radio on Sunday, he said there was no need to rerun images of something “everybody has already seen.”

A year after the September 11 atrocities I realized how thoroughly American media had hidden and erased the images of that day, and wrote:

If it were me, standing on a ledge 100 floors up, suddenly forced to make the ultimate choice with no time to think ... I would want my death to mean something. I would want the world to remember. I would want my countrymen to see me fall, and know what had been done to me, to us, on that day.

And if I had been a victim of the Madrid attacks, I would want those images to be shown. Not ignored. Hiding this abomination away and forgetting about it, out of misguided political correctness and naïve “sensitivity,” is the very opposite of respect for the victims. It makes them non-persons. It renders their suffering meaningless.

Here is the surveillance video (Windows Media format) that was shot in the Atocha train station on March 11, 2004. It’s not gory, but it is highly disturbing. I’ve included the extended footage that shows rescue workers running away at a false alarm of another explosion—and leaving the wounded victims lying on the station floor.

Never forget.

(If clicking the picture doesn’t start the video, click here.)

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