Lies, Lies, Lies, Yeah: The CNN Story about al-Qaeda's Socialist-Love

[markses]

Heavy attention is being paid by right wingers to this story:

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A document published months before national elections reveals al Qaeda planned to separate Spain from its allies by carrying out terror attacks.

A December posting on a Internet message board used by al Qaeda and its sympathizers and obtained by CNN, spells out a plan to topple the pro-U.S. government.

"We think the Spanish government will not stand more than two blows, or three at the most, before it will be forced to withdraw because of the public pressure on it," the al Qaeda document says.

"If its forces remain after these blows, the victory of the Socialist Party will be almost guaranteed -- and the withdrawal of Spanish forces will be on its campaign manifesto."

---snip---
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/03/16/spain.invest0700/index.html

And yet, we now see the following:

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.

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

The implications of these two articles should be prime fodder for talk. I'm of the opinion that the CNN document is of...let us say dubious provenance. There is no way that threats were publicly made against the Spanish election and 1) Nobody says anything about it, 2) No State department travel advisories are issued, 3) No heightened alerts go out across Spain, 4) The Spanish government pulls its police from surveillance of radical islamists. There is also no way this document existed on an "Internet message board used by al Qaeda and its sympathizers" and was not known by the US government. At this point, we have several options:

1. We can believe that the CNN story is false, or misattributes the importance or provenance of the document (my pick).
2. Intelligence agencies did not share the information about an attack on Spain with Spain. (Next to impossible)
3. Spain was aware of the threat, but ignored it. (They didn't just ignore it, but REDUCED their attention to it!)
4. Spain was aware of the threat, and LIHOP. (Grisly, I know, but the two stories there do at the very least suggest the possibility, if both true).

[rumguy]

1. no doubt they are misusing, missatributing that document...

[markses]

3. That's my guess

I don't go for LIHOP stuff generally, sorry to say. I know many here have posed good arguments to that effect.

[Fovea]

2. I can't say why I feel this way

But I think the true story is going to prove really bad news for conservatives in the EU. And possibly bad for * as well.