Spain accused of easing up on terror watch

[BeyondGeography]

Signs emerge of serious intelligence and security failures before bombings

Giles Tremlett in Madrid, Owen Bowcott in Casablanca, Ian Black in Brussels and Sophie Arie in Milan
Wednesday March 17, 2004
The Guardian

Spain cut the number of police units responsible for watching radical Islamists in the months before last week's Madrid bombings, reducing numbers by up to a half in some cities and sending them back to ordinary police work, it was claimed yesterday.

A report in the newspaper El Mundo emerged amid numerous signs of serious police and intelligence failures in the run-up to the attacks that killed 201 commuters.

They include allegations that:

· Spanish police possessed phone taps linking a prime suspect in the bombings, the Moroccan Jamal Zougam, with Mohamed Fizazi, a jailed leader of the May bombings in Casablanca, Morocco;

· Arguments between Morocco and Spain over the island of Perejil, fishing rights and immigration had seriously hampered coordination on shared terrorism threats;

· Paperwork that should have allowed police to trace the sale in Spain of the explosives used in the attacks has reportedly gone missing; and

· Spanish police knew that Mr Zougam was closely connected to Salaheddine Benyaiche, another north African Islamist also imprisoned in Morocco for the Casablanca attacks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,1170913,00.html

[burrowowl]

1. Hmmm!

Another LIHOP?

[demdave]

2. Connect the dots

Rove Rove Rove


But wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume incompetence?

[orwell]

4. Rovel Bots

It's nice to see Rove's blastfaxes go transatlantic.

BFEE...making the world safe for terra.

O

On edit: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. more idiocy

>Another LIHOP?

WHYHOP?

I won't even address the "another" bit. It's all far too stupid.

[tlcandie]

3. Wow .. dejavu!!!!

:think: :eyes: :wow:

[kodi]

5. so the govt was ousted because of not fighting terrorism enough?

which indicates that it was concentrating on Iraq instead of the real threat.

sound familiar?

this shows that the presumptions of the busheviks concerning spanish voters appeasing terrorism by their vote is completely wrong.

[NV1962]

8. No, the lapses are now simply coming out with the change of guard

But you're right about diverting assets.

Sad? No: pathetic.

[Kagemusha]

7. Another Guardian article says ETA *always* bombs elections

That's getting.. sad.

[NV1962]

9. Well... In fact, they do (did)

Obviously not at the scale of what happened last Thursday, but yes: for the past two decades, ETA carried out attacks before elections to “leave their mark” - invariably resulting in a bitter bickerfest with recriminations flying across, to and fro nationalist and non-nationalist politicians and parties. Which is ETA's point: making headlines, being center of stage.

[markses]

11. Um, NV1962: Weren't you yourself assuring everyone that it was ETA

on these very boards as recently as last Saturday, and scoffing at the ignorance of those who thought it might be al-Qaeda?

Do you still believe it was ETA???

[NV1962]

13. Saturday afternoon I realized I was duped myself too

I don't recall scoffing at ignorance - if I did, my apologies. But I do remember becoming increasingly skeptical, and dismissed the idea of ETA "proper" being behind it fairly early - I believe the day after, on Friday - thinking instead in terms of either a "rogue" faction and/or an Al Q'aida related group - until seeing Alfredo Rubalcaba's press release, Saturday late afternoon (Madrid time) here. That's when I realized what had been going on was nothing but shameless manipulation at the highest level - a realization shared by many, many other Spaniards that turned into white-hot rage, and eventually a swing in votes.

And i think if you dig through my posts since Thursday you'll see just that reflected.

No, of course I can't believe -- certainly not at this point -- that it was ETA.

What is even today hard to believe is the scope and extent of the deceit, carried out by Aznar's government (including Aznar himself; he called several editors-in-chief personally to press the “ETA did it” story - which clearly indicates from what level the orders came.)

Going as far as misleading fellow European law enforcement agencies (such as German BKA, as reported by ARD) is a terrifying thing. Not to mention the extent of ridicule by pressing the UN Security Council to condemn ETA specifically... and not correcting the information. Way to burn and slash trust.

So, as much as I was wrong, what embarassment I feel about that absolutely pales in comparison with my cold/hot feelings of contempt/hatred for the (almost!) incredible degree of shamelessness displayed by Aznar and his people. It's betrayal of public trust to the highest degree. It's quite something to repeat Condi Rice's “capitalizing on the opportunity.”

Fortunately, the response on Sunday was swift and severe.

Anyway... once more: my apologies for letting my feelings seep through my words, last weekend.

[bemildred]

15. Sir, I salute your integrity.

It takes an honest man to be mistaken and
just get on with it.

[ze_dscherman]

10. Kick

Familiar pattern?

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. So Aznar's government was weak on terrorism

well it sounds like the new government might be right then, that they should get out of Iraq and focus on fighting terrorism.

I wish we could do that in this country before we have another LIHOP/MIHOP event but of course Bu$hCo thinks these events will shore up their support, so they will keep on happening as long as Bu$hCo see them has politically advantageous.

[truthisfreedom]

14. all bushco can do is heap insult upon injury. Spain is reeling from their

recent terror attack, triggered by bushco's bullying ways, and all that bushco can do his hurl insults... this is identical with rush limpbutt's LYING attack on widows and children survivors of 9-11. this is compassionate conservatism at its absolute hypocritical peak.