Posted on 12/17/2004 2:21:30 PM PST by America's Resolve
MADRID- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero blamed Islamic radicals linked to Al-Qaeda for the March 11 attacks that killed 191 people in Madrid and called for a cross-party pact against international terrorism.
The socialist leader also hit out at the previous right-wing government of Jose Maria Aznar for trying to pin responsibility on the Basque separatist group ETA and wiping out evidence of its actions at the time of the attacks.
And he slammed the United States for suggesting the outrage had cowed the Spanish people into ousting Aznar, Washington's strong ally in the war in Iraq, at elections three days after the blasts on four commuter trains.
"The control, preparation and responsibility for the March 11 attacks is exclusively linked to international terrorism of the Islamic radical type," Zapatero told the parliamentary commission probing the morning rush-hour attacks, which also left 1,900 people injured.
Zapatero, the first head of government in Spain's history to appear before a parliamentary investigatory panel, said he was basing his statement on the findings of the judiciary, the police, the prison authorities and the intelligence services.
He said the "planning and execution" of the attacks were by the "same" people who were responsible for the September 11, 2001 strikes in the United States and explosions at a Bali nightclub in October 2002, along with bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, in May last year and in Istanbul, Turkey in November 2003.
All those attacks have been blamed on groups linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
Zapatero added: "My government wants to create, put forward and support a major agreement against international terrorism with the political forces represented in parliament," similar to the 2000 pact on how to fight ETA which the socialists proposed and was accepted and implemented by the Aznar government.
But Eduardo Zaplana, spokesman for Aznar's right-wing Popular Party, poured cold water on the idea.
"We will always support you in everything you propose against terrorism, against all types of terrorism, but we don't need a pact," he said.
Two weeks ago Aznar, in testimony to the same commission, still refused to rule out ETA involvement in the attacks, possibly in collaboration with Islamists.
Most analysts saw the blasts as aimed at punishing Spain for its support for the US-led war in Iraq, including the sending of 1,400 troops there, and Aznar's insistence that ETA was to blame was seen as instrumental in his ousting in the previously scheduled March 14 elections.
Zapatero said the interrogation of Islamist suspects and ETA prisoners had shown there was no link between them in planning or carrying out the attacks and there was never any evidence of ETA involvement.
The prime minister rejected Aznar's claim that the blasts had been timed to influence the polls, but said the involvement in Iraq had increased the risk of attacks.
Referring to US insinuations of Spanish "cowardice" in ousting Aznar, Zapatero said, "knowing our people, it is impossible for anyone to imagine that Spanish citizens would bend to the supposed aims of terrorists".
"It is unacceptable to add, to the pain of the deaths and the humiliation at not having prevented the attacks, the infamy of branding a courageous people as as cowards," he said, in allusion to Spain's experience of ETA attacks.
"How can some still say that Spain gave in?"
He said he had pulled the troops out of Iraq after taking office because public opinion was against their presence, because the war was illegal, did not respect the United Nations procedures and was counterproductive in the campaign against terrorism.
Zapatero also slammed Aznar's government for wiping its computers before bowing out, notably of policy documents relating to the March 11 attacks.
"In the prime minister's office we did not have a single document or any data on computer because the whole cabinet of the previous government carried out a massive erasure," Zapatero said.
"That means that we have nothing about what happened, information that might have been received, meetings or decisions that were taken from March 11 until March 14," when the elections took place.
Paella eating surrender monkeys.
The results of the election speak louder than his protestations. He wouldn't even be sitting there makeing those remarks if what he was saying were true.
A classic case of the lie being revealed by the very act of telling it.
~ and ~
Ummmm, no; no it's not. I won't go into *what it is*, as I'd probably get in trouble... aw, what the heck:
Islam, The Cult of Murder™.
Islam, The Cult of Terror™.
Islam, The Cult of Boy-Buggering™.
Islam, The Cult of Women-Chattelling™.
Islam, The Cult of Horror™.
Islam, The Cult of Rape™.
Islam, The Cult of Ritual Killing™.
Islam, The Cult of Beheading™.
Islam, The Cult of Deviants™.
Islam, The Cult of Hate™.
Islam, The Cult of Lies™.
Islam, The Cult of Female Mutilation™.
Islam, The Cult of Death™.
Islam, The Cult of Christian & Jew Killing™.
Islam, The Cult of Infidel Murder™.
Islam, The Cult of The Mentally-Ill™.
Islam, the Cult of Evil™.
Islam, the Cult of Poverty™.
Islam, the Cult of Illiteracy™.
Islam, the Religion of Peace™, and THEY'LL KILL YOU TO PROVE IT!
HA-HA!!!
Paella eating surrender monkeys.
LOL.That's good !...so is paella and tapas.
It's pretty easy, really. What I do is inhale and then move my lips while exhaling. There may be better ways, but that one works for me.
Hey Yankee, go ahead and rush into the fray we'll be right behind you....yeah...that's it, we'll be right behind you.
Technically, he's right when he says no imagination is needed to see that Spain caved in to terrorism. The cowardice of Spain is so obvious that imagination is not needed.
What is most amazing is how little it took. One attack and Spain surrendered.
BTW: I realize not all Spaniards are cowards. But the nation as a whole has proven that it IS.
Never mind the fact that Spain's withdrawl from the Iraqi theatre was exactly what the terrorists wanted to achieve with the Madrid bombings. Smells like surrender to me....
LOL!!! That was awesome.
He protests too much. Flailing around for somebody else to blame for their cowardice. As Bugs would say, 'What a maroon!'
Ping
Spain bent over for terrorism: HenryLeeII
Zapatero is a liberal twerp.
I know. Don't they know that it is called al-Andalus again? al-Andalus gave in.
Cowards denying their cowardice. It shames me to be of Spanish descent.
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