Posted on 08/31/2017 4:38:30 PM PDT by Olog-hai
US security agencies warned Spain in May that the Islamic State group was planning an attack in Barcelona, where the jihadists claimed a deadly van rampage earlier this month, local media said Thursday.
The daily El Periodico de Cataluna reported that the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) alerted Spanish intelligence officers to the threat weeks before a man ploughed his vehicle into crowds of tourists along Barcelona’s Las Ramblas boulevard on August 17, killing 14 people.
“Unsubstantiated information of unknown veracity from late May 2017 indicted that the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (IS) was planning to conducted unspecified terrorist attacks during the summer against crowded tourist sites in Barcelona, Spain, specifically (Las Ramblas) street,” according to an NCTC briefing note published by the paper.
A spokesman for Spain’s CNI intelligence agency, contacted by AFP, refused to “confirm or deny anything on communication with other intelligence services”. …
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.es ...
If intel can eavesdrop and track these girls or guys, why don’t they simply apprehend them and deal with them as they would if found on the fields of Afghanastan?
If they knew they were isis - WHY don’t they move in so as to prevent the attack? They certainly could have.
The cynic would allege the intelligence agencies wanted it that way, but that would be hard to believe...
The first thing that came to mind was how did a truck have access to a pedestrian thorofare used by thousands upon thousands. The leftist mayor decided no protective bollards even after Nice.
Criminal.
“The cynic would allege the intelligence agencies wanted it that way, but that would be hard to believe...”. The mayor knew and yet because she believes in “Coexist”, people died. She was safe behind a wall somewhere shouting out orders to the press to stand down until they were absolutely sure it was Islamists.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/barcelonas-mayor-ignored-recommendations-put-11009887 no bollards.
Tzarnov brothers all over again. Does it really matter?
Intelligence on these guys in Spain, but none on the Tsarrnev brothers in Boston?
Kill us. Please!
Understood, but that’s not the question.
If the US knows they have a line on actual isis terrorists, why do THEY not go and apprehend them as quickly as possible? Surely they know where they can be found.
The mayor’s stand down order is a different issue.
Spain is the country, but Barcelona is in the region of Catalonia, which has a seriously radical leftist separatist movement going on. So I suspect that Spain got the warnings, informed the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan police force() - and the Mossos dropped it immediately because it came from Spain.
Heck, these terrorists had 100 propane tanks in their backyard,...and that didn’t bother the Mossos?
They think they don’t have enough evidence to charge them and a judge will just turn them loose. They also have many such reports that prove to be wrong. They now have 35000 radical jihadists in the U.K. Who knows how many in Spain and France.
I read that the Catalonians were warned by the US via Madrid, but they are separatists and decided, “We don’t take orders from Madrid.” They have also invited Muslims to Catalonia for the past 30 years, assuming/ hoping that they would prefer to learn Catalan instead of Spanish. They haven’t. They didn’t. Now, in addition to stupidity, they have other problems compounded by stupidity. Of their own doing.
I want one of these First Amendment hacker groups to release the list of jihadis we are watching in America with names and addresses. that would be a hoot
Exactly. They’re also raving leftists who are actually very supportive of Islam. Catalonia has the highest percentage of Muslims in Spain, mostly because they’ve taken in “immigrants” to spite the rest of Spain.
And that’s the thanks they get! Deaths and a serious destruction of their tourist industry, which is about 35% of Barcelona’s income.
Because there are thousands upon thousands of threats from Muslims, many of which are valid.
Sorry, no excuse.
Either we are at war with isis, or we are treating terrorism as we did during the Bill Clinton years, that is, as a criminal issue.
If they knew they were monitoring isis terrorists and thought there was a credible enough threat to warn Barcellona, there is NO excuse why they just didn’t get them on their own.
Many times through the years I’ve either read about or heard of someone who made what could be considered a threat on social media, and the Secret Service was at their door in a matter of hours.
Gee, how come Spain didn't act on this information?
Sure became substantial on August 17, didn’t it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.