Terrorists claim victory in Spain

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Except that there's a CNN article (linked to twice in this very thread!) that seems to indicate that Al Qaeda intended to bring down Aznar's government with the bombing.

Yes, and the source of the article is a goddam internet forum post.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
... by a terrorist bombing. Al Qaeda blows up a few trains, changes the focus of the election and gets exactly what they wanted. ****ing brilliant, in a completely evil kinda way...

Fair enough, they got Spain to withdraw from Iraq. How is that a victory, if the involvement in Iraq did nothing good in the fight against terrorism?

[Nubclear]

OMG OMG OMG
I just saw, uh, a post from Al Qaeda on arab forums! Heres a translation!

Sacred Brothers,

It is time for karmic retribution to destroy the American infidels!
I have informed our ally, Drake Tungsten of http://www.apolyton.net who currently resides in Japan, of our plan.
Once he posts, our divine allies in heathen America will support him.
They shall fear our power!!!

Sincerly,
Osama Bin Laden
Al Qaeda

PS: This is *VERY* true. Seriously.

You neocons are supporting TERRORISM!

[Ted Striker]

Well Boris, that really goes back to the basic axiom of terrorism

They know they can't beat any Western force on the ground. So they hope that the Western forces get to scared to stay there.

It could be seen as that Spain got scared for the safety of its forces or its own citizens and decided to withdraw them so that it wouldn't make itself a target.

Really though we need to solve the Palestinian problem. If that was fixed this would all end. Even the damn Arabs couldn't complain.

But there are so many jackasses who keep causing trouble trying to delay the peace process.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
They know they can't beat any Western force on the ground. So they hope that the Western forces get to scared to stay there.

Don't forget the PSOE was against going to Iraq in the first place. They are merely being consistent with themselves.

It could be seen as that Spain got scared for the safety of its forces or its own citizens and decided to withdraw them so that it wouldn't make itself a target.

Not really. They knew the risks and assumed them. I'm pretty sure they can still be a target and will be again.

Really though we need to solve the Palestinian problem. If that was fixed this would all end. Even the damn Arabs couldn't complain.

Yup.

But there are so many jackasses who keep causing trouble trying to delay the peace process.

Both in Israel and in Palestine, shall I add.

[Ned]

European leaders meet this Friday to discuss what to do about terrorism. I am willing to bet that they will agree that nation building in both Afghanistan and Iraq are critically important in the war on terror. I suspect they will offer that NATO take over the military mission in Iraq after June 30. Just a prediction.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris


Don't forget the PSOE was against going to Iraq in the first place. They are merely being consistent with themselves.

I agree. But still from the outside there could be a perception. Al Queda knows there isn't much support in Spain for its forces to be there. So they went after the "weakest" link first. Maybe they are hoping others will see what happened and they will withdraw also.

Both in Israel and in Palestine, shall I add.

True.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Ned
European leaders meet this Friday to discuss what to do about terrorism. I am willing to bet that they will agree that nation building in both Afghanistan and Iraq are critically important in the war on terror. I suspect they will offer that NATO take over the military mission in Iraq after June 30. Just a prediction.

Old Eurocom dumbasses Chirac and Shroeder actually made some brilliant statements today.

PARIS, France (CNN) -- The leaders of France and Germany have pledged to step up the fight against terrorism and coordinate with other nations to protect citizens and institutions.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/03/16/spain.eu/index.html

[Giancarlo]

Words do not speak actions.

I thought the Spanish learned that with the last Socialist Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez. Big talker, big bull****er.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
I thought the Spanish learned that with the last Socialist Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez. Big talker, big bull****er.

Are we talking about the guy who backed anti-ETA death squads?

[dannubis]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

The idea that al-Qaeda claims victory in Spain is completely abusurd.

Repeating that doesn't make it anymore true. Al Qaeda won a great victory in Spain, whether you wan't to admit it or not.

Repeating that doesn't make it anymore true.

[Cruddy]

So, after reading through 7 pages of this thread, I HAD to ask...

Where's the link to the terrorists claiming victory?

Spanish troops, right now, are in Iraq. And they will stay there until at least June. They could stay there for far longer if the UN wants to get involved in sorting the political dimension (and of course, the Bushies will permit such "meddling" in their conquest).

Those who love democracy cannot criticise the Spanish people's decision.

Those who think Spain will do nothing do not know the Spanish.

Iraq is but one one front on a global battlefield.

[Estilpón]

I see there are some fundamental errors in the diagnosis of the Spanish situation, as well as the recent and unfortunate events...

part of the people did not vote to the PSOE......
...because PSOE will agree with Al Qaeda ( that's offensive )
... because PSOE will protect to us better (impossible)
... because PSOE will remove the troops (this possition is affirmed before attack)

although the high participation was consequence of the terrorist
attack

the peoples rejected Popular Party because of the informative management of the attack: 2 examples of the international manipulation:
- pressure from the government to the correspondents of foreign press to blame to ETA
- pressure of the diplomacy in the UN to blame to ETA

you can imagine the internal manipulation

"in 3 days 8 years burst"

excuse my poor english



PS: I am sure the advisers of Bush will have analyzed it, and will modify part of their electoral strategy about 11-S

[Drake Tungsten]

Really though we need to solve the Palestinian problem. If that was fixed this would all end. Even the damn Arabs couldn't complain.

Ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be great and would certainly calm down the region, but it won't end terrorism, not by a long shot. Groups like Al Qaeda don't really give a **** about the Pals; they just use the issue cynically as a way to attract recruits and support for their more broad goals.

[GePap]

Kidicious: Please vote for Bush. I can only chuckle to see you and some of the conservatives agreeing election time-it will make them feel so icky...

I will do an TMM and repeat for the nth time:

80-90% of the people in Spain did not back the war in Iraq-. IF the PP was going to win, it was going to be due to it's internal policies, NOT its external policies. The Madrid bombing showed its external policies to be, if not a failure, unable to keep Spain safe. Fez said there was nothing any government could have done to stop that bombing-if that is true, what the hell did the PP do for 2 plus years as part on this war on terror? And how would a continuation of the highly unpopular participation of Spain in Iraq without a UN mandate make Spain and spaniards any safer against AQ?

People ask why the government would go whole hog to blame ETA-well, if we were to bring out the threads form that day of the attack-I could point to where I said I found the gov. blaming ETA strange becuase this had the AQ MO. During that discussion, I brought this up, and in one exchange OliverFA, who was blaming, like the government, ETA stated that if it came out it had been AQ there was a possibility the people would vote against the government. All that the day of the attack.

I do not buy the explination that Spanish anger at the PP was due solely to the foolish government handling of events-this outcome as a possibility could be seen. But I find the arguement this is a victory for the terrorist absurd-and one used simply as a proxy for the Iraq debate.

On the notion this will lead to more attacks-why the F*** does anyone here think Terrorists do attack? by this logic, after 9/11 AQ should have figured out attacks would all backfire-somehow they have failed to get the clue, no? Terrorist can always look back to Reagan running from Lebanon after a few massive bombings to see the power of attacks.