Who Killed Them?

There are conflicting thoughts on who is responsible for the horrific terrorist attack in Madrid, a city where I once lived. Spanish officials at first blamed the Basque separatist group ETA, but now think it may have been Al-Quaeda. There are problems with both allegations...

According to the Brussels-based World Observatory of Terrorism there are five major reasons that cast doubt on the involvement of ETA:

1. ETA generally warns Spanish authorities moments before launching their attacks in which civilians are likely to be harmed. This, obviously, was not the case on Thursday.

2. ETA traditionally targets representatives of the government or the administration, such as policemen, the military, magistrates or even journalists who oppose them.

3. ETA customarily selects 'symbolic' targets, such as military barracks and administrative buildings. Although ETA's largest attack to date was in 1987 against a supermarket in Barcelona that killed 21 people, this was the exception rather than the norm.

4. ETA always claims its attacks. Following any ETA bombing, ETA militants call in a claim to Spanish authorities. This failed to happen this time.

5. ETA has never in the past carried out multiple attacks. According to some sources, at least 10 bombs were detonated almost simultaneously on Thursday.

On the other hand, an email claiming responsibility for the attacks has been received by the London office of Arab media group Al-Quds al-Arabi and a van with detonators and taped Koranic verses was found near one of the bomb sites.

The email claimed responsibility in the name of a "death squad" of the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, an obscure group that claimed to be acting on behalf of al-Qaeda.

But according the the SMH, "US officials and experts said the ties were tenuous and they doubted it spoke for the network."

Furthermore, the Abu Hafs al-Masri group has previously claimed responsibility for the huge blackouts in the United States and parts of Canada last year. Officials always denied that this was a terrorist attack, claiming it was caused by a power grid problem. So was it a terrorist attack or not?

Abu Hafs al-Masri also claimed last year's bombings of the UN headquarters in Baghdad and attacks on synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey. But it denied involvement in the recent deadly attacks on Iraqis in Karbala and Baghdad, which bore many similarities to the Madrid attack (simultaneous and separate bombs designed to inflict maximum casualties).

So was really behind this attack?

It is important to note that Spaniards are only a week away from a national election. An El Mundo-commissioned poll, released a few days before the bombing, showed that Aznar's ruling Partido Popular would get between 168 and 173 of the 350-seat congress, just shy of the 176 needed for an absolute majority.

As UPI says, "Spain, along with the United Kingdom, has contributed troops to the war effort, and its prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, showed unflagging support to President George W. Bush and the war effort. Aznar stood side by side with Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a pre-war summit in the Azores."

It will be interesting to see how Spanish citizens respond to this attack at the polls. Will they unite behind their pro-war, right-wing leader, or - since 90% of the country opposed joining Bush's invasion - will they blame him for involving them in this horror and back the opposition Socialists?