Anyone else notice that this (and other) threads have turned into a place for Spain Bashing for new members? Well guess what! Here's a news flash. Just as I ALWAYS eventually have to do on the ETA thread, this one too will meet is end. I'm just counting the minutes.

ATTENTION NEW AND ALL MEMBERS: WE WILL NOT TOLERATE CONSTANT SPAIN BASHING HERE. THERE ARE OTHER PLACES, I'M SURE, WHERE YOUR OPINIONS ARE SHARED BUT THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM. WE INVITE YOU TO LEAVE. THIS IS A PLACE FOR SPAIN LOVERS NOT SPAIN HATERS!! CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.

And before you jump on the 1st Ammendment (Freedom of Speech), it doesn't exist here. So watch it!

OH-SO-SINCERELY, MadridMan

Never mind MM. This is an understandable reaction to the news. I knew it was going to happen.

It seems (according El País ) an Al-Qaeda spokesman in Spain (in prison) has denied any implication in the bombings of last Thursday.

It is not that I care who was, but I'm sure the truth will be unveiled sooner or later, and some will be pictured as they are, and not as they wanted us to see them.

Fernando

Fernando, I apologize for all this. I'm feeling a bit ashamed today. I apologize to all the regulars and to anyone who actually does love Spain. Don't worry. I'm keeping a close eye on these "new fanatics" on the message board and they're treading on thin ice. I assure you.

SINCERELY, MadridMan

Well Wolf and MM are right. Time will tell and the actual actions taken will be the true reflections of the new govt.

I have winced many a time from US govt pronouncements, but have always tried to look for the actual deeds done. So too should we wait and see. If Z can lead this country forward and give himself more power he will be in a position to implement his mandate. If so, then we will really see how things will proceed, as having the power of people solidly behind him will embolden him in ways unimaginable before the election. Although nervous about such an occurrence, in some ways I hope it happend, becuase then we will see his principles manifest more clearly in govt policies.

Ya con policy and back to our love affairs with Spain, no?

Viva la belleza de España, como siempre!

>>>>And before you jump on the 1st Ammendment (Freedom of Speech), it doesn't exist here. So watch it!

OH-SO-SINCERELY, MadridMan<<<<

GOT TO LOVE A MAN BOTH HONEST AND WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR.

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT, BROTHER! (the message board, I mean - I recommend the latter, personally)

Brave,

There have been a lot of meaningful and sometimes heated discussions on the boards but the line is drawn at bashing. As MadridMan says, there comes a point where you cut it off because it becomes too heated.

As you can see from the boards, there's a great melding of Spaniards and Americans, and though we disagree of issues quiet often, we've learned to curb our statements to avoid bashing so we can actually get into the heart of subjects where there is a vast difference in opinion. As an American, I like that, because I can learn more about the people of Spain, and in turn they can learn more about us as individuals, getting past the stereotypes that are too often projected in most areas.

I think you'd enjoy posting here and learning about others. It's a great site. Enjoy it, and if you ever get the opportunity to visit Spain, this is where a lot of friendships have began, and are cemented further during get togethers in Madrid.

Wolf

Get this! I just received an email message from KingWorld's Inside Edition ("News" TV show in the USA). They're asking if I knew the names of any of the 'Americans' injured in the bombings. I hadn't heard there were any 'Americans' injured. Can anyone confirm this?

Saludos, MadridMan

Has anyone heard anything about this ETA-Al Quaida connection? read on:
from Corriere della Sera (Milan)
Do you think there is any truth in this or any independently verified evidence?

Blood pact by E.T.A. and fundamentalists
Basque brigades in Iraq

Magdi
Allam

The hundreds of mostly Islamic foreign combatants who arrived in Iraq before the American attack on 20 March 2003 also included about 80 Basque E.T.A. militants. Two of them were Alvaro Gorka Vidal and Badillo Izkur. On 29 February, the two were arrested while driving to Madrid in a van packed with 500 kilograms of explosives. Unfortunately, Spanish investigators were unaware of the pair's past. It is a past from which emerges an alliance of terror involving young E.T.A. activists, a faction of the self-styled Iraqi resistance that controls the Falluja and Al Ramadi areas, and Spain's Campo Antimperialista group. Yesterday, Europe's bloodiest terrorist massacre may have initiated for them an unprecedented season of violence and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians. The Euskal Herria (Basque Country) brigade took part in resistance operations against the American forces attacking Baghdad. It was made up of young E.T.A. militants prepared to sacrifice their lives.

The combatants had been carefully selected by the Spanish Campo Antimperialista for their unbending faith in the Arab cause and visceral hatred of Israel. First, the militants flew to Amman or Damascus. From there, they proceeded overland to the Iraqi capital. Many have returned home. Some stayed in Iraq, posing as humanitarian operatives, and they were probably responsible for the attack that cost the lives of seven Spanish secret service agents on 29 November at Suwayrah, 45 kilometers south of Baghdad.

The pact of terror between E.T.A. and the Iraqi resistance was agreed in Europe by agents of Saddam Hussein's secret services who managed to infiltrate the Campo Antimperialista group active in Spain and France. The agents returned to Iraq just before the war. There, they were able to gain control of terrorist activities in Falluja and Al Ramadi, the two hottest spots in the area known as the Sunnite "Triangle of Death." The zone was the base for the bloodiest attacks on Americans and Iraqi "collaborators." The Campo Antimperialista website is the main media vehicle for the circulation of communiqués from the Iraqi resistance. Officially, the resistance claims to have nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden, but in fact it is directly involved in Europe in recruiting, and sending to Iraq, aspiring Islamic and non-Islamic combatants and suicide bombers. The resistance works closely with Al Qaeda for the success of their shared terror strategy, whose goals are the destabilization of Iraq and the evacuation of American troops.

Spain, like Italy, France and Britain, hosts active and dormant Al Qaeda cells. Until now, these have been engaged mainly in logistical support. The plan that brought about the tragic events of 11 September 2001 at New York and Washington was drafted on Spanish soil, where Mohammad Atta, leader of the 19 suicide hijackers, traveled. Similarly, Spain has become one of Osama Bin Laden's main targets because of its strong support of the war in Iraq and for the presence of Spanish troops in the south of the country. It was no secret that Spain is a sworn enemy of Al Qaeda. But there had been no hint of the terror alliance linking E.T.A. to the Iraqi resistance and, indirectly, to Bin Laden.

In effect, the Madrid massacre represents the Al Qaedization of terrorism in Europe, on an essentially ideological level. What ought to be cause for concern is the shift in how terrorism perceives its enemy. By indiscriminately attacking civilians, E.T.A. has abandoned the principle of subjective responsibility that in the past produced attacks on individual institutions and officials. It has now adopted the Osama Bin Laden principle of objective responsibility. All those who, whatever their role, are on the enemy's side deserve to die. It is lawful to kill them. Bin Laden does so on the basis of the takfir, the sentence of apostasy passed on an entire society that accepts an "impious" or "atheist" power. The random bombings in Madrid yesterday are a declaration of total war on Spanish society.

It is clear that the quality leap in terrorism in Spain, and the emergence of a terror multinational that combines native subversives with Arab and Islamic extremist groups, must cause concern in Italy. S.I.S.M.I., Italy's military counterespionage service, warned about this risk in a recent report to parliament. So far, efforts at prevention and repression have been successful. But clearly, we are facing the insidious aggression of a globalized terrorism that is capable of mobilizing the West's enemies, internal and external.

di Magdi Allam

English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it

12 marzo 2004 - Corriere.it anche sul tuo cellulare Tim, Vodafone o Wind

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MM, does it matter if no Americans were injured? My damn allies were injured and I would, in a HEARTBEAT, go to war to route out who caused these tragic events. There IS NO negotiating with terrorists, ESPECIALLY ones that think you are wrong and wat to kill you BECAUSE of your religion.