Spain Campaigned to Pin Blame on ETA

[kskiska]

Despite Evidence to Contrary, Basque Group Was Focus in Blasts

Wednesday, March 17, 2004; Page A01

MADRID, March 16 -- In the first frantic hours after coordinated bomb blasts ripped through several packed commuter trains Thursday morning, the government of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar undertook an intense campaign to convince the Spanish public and world opinion-makers that the Basque separatist group ETA had carried out the attacks, which killed 201 people and wounded more than 1,500.

Beginning immediately after the blasts, Aznar and other officials telephoned journalists, stressing ETA's responsibility and dismissing speculation that Islamic extremists might be involved. Spanish diplomats pushed a hastily drafted resolution blaming ETA through the U.N. Security Council. At an afternoon news conference, when a reporter suggested the possibility of an al Qaeda connection, the interior minister, Angel Acebes, angrily denounced it as "a miserable attempt to disrupt information and confuse people."

"There is no doubt that ETA is responsible," Acebes said.

Within days, that assertion was in tatters, and with it the reputation and fortunes of the ruling party. Suspicion that the government manipulated information -- blaming ETA in order to divert any possible link between the bombings and Aznar's unpopular support for the war in Iraq -- helped fuel the upset victory of the Socialist Workers' Party in Sunday's elections. By then, Islamic extremists linked to al Qaeda had become the focus of the investigation.

Government officials insist that they never misled the public, and that they released in a timely manner all the information and evidence they had gathered. "We told the truth at all times to the Spanish people," Acebes said on Monday.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A64633-2004Mar16?language=printer

[Matilda]

1. Spain and the U.S. also pressured the U.N. to issue a condemnation

of ETA.

Here is the link to the story in Common Dreams:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0316-01.htm

This can't help the cred of the "coalition of the willing".

[darkstar]

2. kick n/t

[jpgray]

3. This is still virtually unheard of in the US media I've seen

Which is a serious problem. On Cagle's list of toons for today, virtually all the cartoons dealing with the Spanish election made reference to terrorists 'winning' or Zapatero being some kind of 'appeasement' candidate. This is all total bullshit, since Zapatero was elected in more of a reaction to the Popular Party's obfuscation of who was to blame than it is a kowtowing to terrorists. Moreover, Zapatero will hardly be 'appeasing' the terrorists by moving out of Iraq if the US fails to get the UN involved after July 30. You don't hear that, you just hear that Spain is abandoning the US, Zapatero gives in to terror, etc. etc.

This is a dangerous thing to allow the media to misrepresent. I mean, it's a REALLY dangerous thing.

[darkstar]

4. Yeah, disgusting

The reality is "Aznar Politicizes Bombing" or "Aznar Afraid Terrotists Might Win" or "Aznar Lies Again." But intead this uniform chrous from the 180 Christy Minstrels: "Vote Out an Incumbent and the Terrorists Win."

And you are right. It is a dngerous thing.

[non sociopath skin]

8. And it will be used by the Neocons and their media allies...

Watch out for the "Remember Spain!" refrain during the US Presidential Campaign.

The new Spanish government needs to demonstrate quickly that it's tough on terrorism - but also tough on the causes of terrorism.

The Skin

[dArKeR]

5. Spain campaigned to blame ETA - Despite contrary evidence

By Keith B. Richburg
Updated: 12:20 a.m. ET March  17, 2004

MADRID, March 16 - In the first frantic hours after coordinated bomb blasts ripped through several packed commuter trains Thursday morning, the government of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar undertook an intense campaign to convince the Spanish public and world opinion-makers that the Basque separatist group ETA had carried out the attacks, which killed 201 people and wounded more than 1,500.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4542904/

So it's in the Post and MSwhoreGOP

[dArKeR]

6. Spain Campaigned to Pin Blame on ETA - WP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64633-2004Mar16.html

[dArKeR]

7. Spain: Genuinely Tough on Terrorism - Eric

Spain: Genuinely Tough on Terrorism:  What is being lost in all this bare-chested breast beating about Spain’s allegedly going soft on terrorism is the fact that the war on Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism; just ask the CIA.  Check that.  It’s not that it had nothing to do with it.  It has inspired quite a bit of it, as Bush was warned in advance.  His obsession was so strong however that he was willing to place the nation in greater danger, while simultaneously falling down on the job when it came to the real business of fighting terrorism, be it in tracking down Al Qaida and Taliban remnants in Afghanistan or protecting the nation’s security here at home.  If Spain pulls out of Iraq, that will allow their security forces to better protect them from terrorism, just as Americans would be better protected if we had never gone to Iraq in the first place.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

A little off subject

[NV1962]

9. Thank you, thank you, thank you

A few people here have tried and tried and tried to explain that the result of the elections reflected an indictment of Aznar's government (mis)handling public information in the aftermath of the attacks.

They tried to “capitalize on the opportunity of 3/11.” Fortunately, we had elections so we could throw them out.

I posted a few messages on this topic, with links to Spanish media sources, here and here; I made an attempt to explain why Spaniards responded so massively here.

It's baffling to see equivalents of “Spain voted against the US” and “Spain voted to appease the terrorists” in all its insiduous variants spreading like wildfire, through the same media that, just days before the elections, were so “impressed” when 11.4 million Spaniards took to the streets to protest against terrorism and profess allegiance to Democracy and its Constitution. To me, residing in the US, that's editorial cognitive dissonance if I ever saw it.

[ze_dscherman]

10. German security forces complain about being misled by Spain

They were fed with accusations against ETA, when all clues already pointed in another direction.

[jpgray]

11. Kick (nt)

[dArKeR]

12. Spain Campaigned to Pin Blame on ETA - WP - on yahoo

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=1802&e=1&u=/washpost/20040317/ts_washpost/a64633_2004mar16

[Rex]

13. It was a set up from the get go

nt

[dArKeR]

14. European friend sent me this yesterday before Poland today is softening.

The change of govt in Spain will have enormous consequences over the process of european unification as Spain and Poland were blocking the negotiations over the E.U constitution project.  

 

Spain already announced it will be more flexible in terms of voting rights (with 40 millions inhabitants Spain wanted equal voting power with France, the U.K or Italy which have each alomost 60 millions inhabitants).   

 

Poland (40 millions inhabitants) is left alone in its opposition to the constitution. It is just a matter of time before it gives up and accepts a lower 

voting power. 

 

Ironically it was Rumsfeld who used the term "Old Europe" to make of fun of France and Germany while praising Spain and Poland who backed the war in Iraq!

 

Finally the "Old Europe" proved right when it predicted the disaster that would result from this unfair war of aggression. Chirac is an old rogue of a politician but his own war experience (infantery Lieutenant during the Algerian war) convinced him about the uselessness of this intervention. America should first solve the israeli / palestinian conflict. 

 

That will have even further consequences as european countries that backed Bush can now see that the peace camp (the "axis of weasels") was advocating a right policy (inspections and negociations). It will widen the atlantic gap even more!