Thursday, March 11, 2004
The Madrid Bombings
Watching Real Madrid play and win against Bayern Munich last night, the last thing I would have expected was that celebrations in Madrid would come to such a horrific end. Given that ETA killed just 3 people in the whole of 2003 and since violence in Spain has scaled back considerably since Franco's bloody rule, it's hard to comprehend that Spain has just become the victim of the worst terrorist attack (190 dead, 1200 wounded at last count) in Europe since World War II. I am also a little surprised by the certainty with which the Spanish government has decided to blame ETA for this attack.
I don't claim to know anything about ETA and I am sure the Spanish government knows what it's doing when it pins the blame on ETA. However, what little I do know about ETA seems to suggest that either they've adopted entirely new methods of attack and murder or its not them. For example, ETA has always tended to warn before its attacks (like the IRA), tended to attack symbolic or governmental targets and most importantly, they always take credit for their attacks, none of which has happened this time. In fact, Batasuna has disclaimed any responsibility. Finally, ETA has never had the sophistication to carry out large-scale, simultaneous bombings either (of course, they could be learning).
Now, simultaneous large-scale attacks and an utter disregard for civilian lives is a trademark of Al-Qaeda. Plus, they have had ample reason to attack Spain, given Aznar's total support of Bush admistration policies, including on Iraq. So, why is Al-Qaeda being ruled out? Anyway, lets hope these murderers are brought to justice soon, irrespective of whether affiliations lie with ETA or with Al-Qaeda.
I don't claim to know anything about ETA and I am sure the Spanish government knows what it's doing when it pins the blame on ETA. However, what little I do know about ETA seems to suggest that either they've adopted entirely new methods of attack and murder or its not them. For example, ETA has always tended to warn before its attacks (like the IRA), tended to attack symbolic or governmental targets and most importantly, they always take credit for their attacks, none of which has happened this time. In fact, Batasuna has disclaimed any responsibility. Finally, ETA has never had the sophistication to carry out large-scale, simultaneous bombings either (of course, they could be learning).
Now, simultaneous large-scale attacks and an utter disregard for civilian lives is a trademark of Al-Qaeda. Plus, they have had ample reason to attack Spain, given Aznar's total support of Bush admistration policies, including on Iraq. So, why is Al-Qaeda being ruled out? Anyway, lets hope these murderers are brought to justice soon, irrespective of whether affiliations lie with ETA or with Al-Qaeda.
