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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: redfish who wrote (39392)	3/13/2004 12:44:30 PM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

If true, another disconnect between political spinmasters and the intelligence services. Report: Spanish Intelligence Blames Muslims for Bombs By Daniel Trotta Spain's intelligence service is "99 percent certain" Muslim not Basque militants perpetrated the Madrid train bombings that killed 200 people, a Spanish radio station reported on Saturday. The report by private radio SER, whose owners have links to the opposition Socialists, flew in the face of government assertions armed group ETA was the prime suspect in the attacks that have traumatized Spain and sent jitters round the world. It fueled grumbling from critics that Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's government might be focusing on the Basque group, rather than al Qaeda, for internal political gain ahead of Sunday's election. Ministers angrily denied the charge. "If (they think) it is al Qaeda, nobody has told me," Interior Minister Angel Acebes said, when asked if intelligence services were tending toward blaming Islamic militants for the blasts. Finding the culprits for Thursday's atrocity, which killed 200 people and wounded 1,500, has huge global security implications. If it was al Qaeda, it would be the first strike in the West since the September 11, 2001, attacks on America. If it were ETA, it would be a major escalation for a group that has killed 850 people in Spain over 36 years and is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. It could also sway Spain's general election, going ahead on Sunday as planned after three days of official mourning. Aznar's center-right government stands to win votes if the culprits were ETA, because it has campaigned on its hardline stance against the armed Basque group, political analysts said. "DEATH FOR TERRORISTS" If al Qaeda or other radical Islamic groups were shown to be involved, voters might perceive the attacks as the price for Aznar's domestically unpopular support of the Iraq war. But they might also rally around a government seen as strong on security. Citing high-ranking officials, SER radio said the National Intelligence Center (CNI) believes evidence points to an Islamic group, and that 10 to 15 people left bombs on trains and fled "The evidence has wiped out previous indications that led us to believe in ETA," the radio quoted one source as saying. The change came after a van was found later on Thursday, near the Alcala de Henares station where three of the four bombed trains originated, with an audio tape lesson about the Koran and seven detonators inside, the radio station said. In a separate development, the doorman of the building across from where the van was found told Spanish media he saw three masked men get out of it the morning of the attacks. Throughout Saturday -- a day that had been supposed to be an official "day of reflection" prior to the election -- traumatized Spaniards were burying their dead. The nation's grief and anger was crystallized at a funeral service in Alcala de Henares, home to 40 of the dead. "Death penalty for the terrorists," said a weeping Violeta Dominguez, whose daughter lost a friend. "This has no end. They will go on killing because they enjoy killing." "There is a divine justice that nobody can escape from. They (those responsible) will never escape from this justice," Roman Catholic Bishop Jesus Catala told hundreds of mourners. Spain does not have a death penalty and Aznar has said he is personally against it. Demonstrating the depth of feeling in Spain, the government said 11.64 million people -- more than a quarter of Spain's population -- had taken to rain-drenched streets in nationwide protests on Friday against "our September 11." ELECTION LOOMS A group tied to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attacks and ETA has denied it -- but neither statement has been confirmed to be genuine. "Whether it was ETA or al Qaeda doesn't affect the shared repudiation of terrorism, but it may have different political and electoral consequences," the left-leaning daily El Pais said in an editorial on Saturday. Aznar is to step down, but his hand-picked successor, former Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, is seeking a third straight four-year term for the center-right Popular Party. Socialist candidate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who opposed the war in Iraq but has backed Aznar in the fight against ETA, is seeking to return the Socialists to power for the first time since Aznar unseated Felipe Gonzalez in 1996. In Madrid, relatives continued their agonising vigils in hospitals where the worst of the wounded were being treated. reuters.com lurqer