Bad News for Basque-Phobes

Basque-phobes around the world are now eating hearty servings of humble pie.

Conservative bloggers who decided to follow the Barcepundit's lead are now faced with their own mendacity, the list is long but let me name those who insisted the most: Joe Gandelman and Colin Davies.

Here you have the report by the Guardian Unlimited about the outcome of the Madrid trials:

Madrid bombings

Mass murderers jailed for 40 years as judge delivers verdicts on Spain's 9/11

Relatives unhappy after alleged ringleader is acquitted over 2004 attacks that left 191 people dead

Paul Hamilos in Madrid
Thursday November 1, 2007
The Guardian

A Spanish court convicted three men of mass murder yesterday for their part in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, but one of the alleged ringleaders was acquitted.

At the end of a four-month trial, 21 of the 28 defendants were convicted on at least one charge for their role in Europe's worst Islamist attack, in which 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured when bombs hidden in duffle bags ripped through four crowded commuter trains.

The attacks were Spain's equivalent of September 11, a day of chaos and confusion as frantic relatives rang mobile phones which went unanswered amid the carnage. The government of José María Aznar, an ally of George Bush, initially blamed the Basque separatist group Eta, despite evidence of Islamist involvement. Three days later he and his People's party were toppled by an electorate which believed it had been misled.

Yesterday, the heavily guarded courtroom was packed with victims' relatives. Some shouted abuse at the accused, who were held in a bullet-proof chamber, but silence descended as Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez read his hour-long verdict.

....

Victims' relatives expressed shock at the verdicts. Pilar Manjón, who lost her son, said: "I'm not happy that killers are walking free." But the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who came to power in elections three days after the attack, said he was satisfied: "Justice was rendered today." He added: "The barbarism perpetrated on March 11 2004 has left a deep imprint of pain on our collective memory, an imprint that stays with us as a homage to the victims."

....

Spaniards were divided after the Aznar government initially blamed Basque separatists. Yesterday Judge Gómez said there was no proof of Eta's involvement.

The People's party leader, Mariano Rajoy, said the verdicts would not end the investigation into those responsible for the bombings, saying that his party would "support any further [investigation] without limits ... to find justice".

Analysts say the Madrid bombings were different in style from previous attacks claimed by al-Qaida, and the investigation found no evidence of a direct operational link to the Islamist terrorist group.

The problem of course being that Aznar and his Francisco Franco regime styled Partido Popular did not blame the bombings on ETA, they blamed them on Basques in general. Remember those mentions of the constitution? Remember how a Basque baker was murdered by an off duty Spanish officer in the city of Iruñea (Pamplona)? Remember how an old lady died of a heart attack when the regional police refused to assist her during a demonstration?

But Basque-phobes continued to publish articles supporting the conspiracy theory that gave Madrid the chance to step up the repressive measures against Basque society.

Well boys, is over now, you lost.

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