St. Patrick's!

Gora Irlanda Batua !

Erin Go Bragh !

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Annan: Spain Fumbled

Everyone agrees, Spain really got messy on this whole issue of the attacks.

Check this out:

"...but as evidence mounted that Islamic extremists with links to al-Qaida were behind the bomb blasts, the Security Council was left in the embarrassing position of blaming the Basque separatists..."

Annan: Spain Blaming ETA Affected Election
Tue Mar 16, 6:34 PM ET

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said Tuesday that Spain's initial insistence that Basque terrorists were behind last week's Madrid train bombings was a factor in Sunday's upset election victory by the Socialists.

But he said there were other factors including strong public opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and an al-Qaida claim the bombings were punishment for Spain's support for the United States.

Annan was asked if terrorism affected the election which saw Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, an opponent of the war, defeat conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of President Bush's staunchest allies.

"I think the events in Spain need to be looked at very critically," Annan told reporters.

He cited "many factors" in the election: "One was the question of who did it, and whether the public felt they got a full, clear picture from the government of what was going on. There was a question of the large number of the population having been opposed to the war, being reminded of the war by the claims made by the terrorists who committed the attack."

"But I think what is important, and what this underscores, is that we need international cooperation — working across borders — to defeat and contain terrorism," Annan said.

Zapatero has promised to fulfill a campaign pledge to withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops serving in the U.S.-led coalition by June 30 unless the United Nations takes over. The U.S.-led coalition is expected to hand over power to an Iraqi body on that date.

Annan said the Spanish government's initial insistence that ETA was responsible for the bombings, which the Security Council endorsed, demonstrate the difficulties of acting too quickly.

Immediately after Thursday's bombings, which killed 200 people and injured 1,400 others, Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio and Spanish diplomats here and in other capitals started lobbying for a resolution blaming ETA.

Spain is currently serving a two-year term on the Security Council, and just hours after the blasts its 15 members unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the bombings "perpetrated by the terrorist group ETA."

But as evidence mounted that Islamic extremists with links to al-Qaida were behind the bomb blasts, the Security Council was left in the embarrassing position of blaming the Basque separatists.

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The Kind Ertzaintza Officer

Today at Berria English:

“I couldn’t give a damn”

That was the answer given by the Basque Autonomous Community police officer to the daughter of the dead Kontxi Sanchiz in Hernani when asked for help

Amagoia Mujika – HERNANI (Gipuzkoa)

The Ertzaintza or Basque Autonomous Community police force said in a statement issued yesterday that they were investigating the death of the Hernani-born Kontxi Sanchiz. “An inquiry was begun as soon as the news emerged,” says the statement, but it does not say that when Sanchiz’s daughter Nagore Gonzalez and her friend, Arkaitz Fraile, approached an Ertzaina or police officer for help, they were told, “I couldn’t give a damn”.

Visibly upset, Arkaitz Fraile said yesterday, “When we saw that the ambulance wasn’t coming, we asked an Ertzaina for help and that is how he responded.” The Ertzaintza had told BERRIA that they would “only be issuing a statement and would not be giving any explanations”.

At midday yesterday about 400 people had gathered in Hernani to denounce the killing of Angel Berrueta and the citizens of Hernani were faced with another death. Kontxi Sanchiz died of a heart attack during the protest which led to trouble and in which the Ertzaintza were involved.

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PP's Defeat

The rule of the Francoist PP in Spain is over.

The castle of glass that the Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar built on lies and manipulations came crumbling down after the rotten core of his party was exposed to the Spanish people and the international community. I don't know if there is anything worst than to try to profit politically from the tragedy of your own people.

What happened in Spain was simple, there was just to many lies coming from a bunch of arrogant and Fascist minded idiots. Immediatly after the terrible bombings in Madrid the Spanish regime issued a condemnation on Basque nationalism as the responsible for the tragedy. It was a political move, they knew they could get more votes that way.

The Spanish regime moved so quickly than within hours the UN High Council and the European Union had issued similar condemnations against ETA. The media in Spain and around the world championed this version. There was a few specialists in terrorism and members of intelligence agencies that put this version in doubt, it was simply not ETA's modus operandi.

The Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes told the press that everysingle piece of evidence pointed at ETA.

But then the truth started unraveling, first a van with detonators and tapes with Quran verses in Arabic, then an email to a London based news paper by a front group of Al Qaeda claiming responsability, then the arrest of three Moroccans and two Spaniards of Indian background linked to a cellphone that was in a knapsack bomb that did not went off, and the straw that broke the camel's back, a video-tape by Al Qaeda claiming responsability for the attacks.

The Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio instructed the Spanish ambassadors to stick to the by then "official version" of ETA's responsability even after the van with the detonators and the email from Al Qaeda was received.

Then the worst, in Irunea (Pamplona), fueled by the governments lies a police officer from Salamanca that works on a sort of political groups' intelligence unit gunned down a Basque baker, the police officer's son finished it up by stabbing the 61 year old man. Then the police attacked the family members and neighbors and brought down the Ikurrinas and black ribbons the mourners had place on the bakery. The baker, Angel Berroeta was a member of "Gurasoak", a human rights group for parents and family members of Basque youths accused of belonging to the "Kale Borroka", a youth organization that time to time stages violent demonstrations in the Basque Country.

By Saturday night the Spaniards were demanding the truth, and they took the streets once again banging pots and pans in front of each local PP headquarters. They were common folk hurting from the loss of innocent people on such a horrible way, but the PP presidential candidate Mariano Rajoy accused them of violating the electoral law (??!!).

On Sunday the Spaniards went to the voting poles, they started the slow process of kicking the Francoist scumbags out of office in the best way possible, vote by vote.

Then it happened again, in the Basque town of Hernani a group of people dediced to demonstrate for the death of Angel Berroeta, the Ertzaintza stopped them first but then allowed the demonstration to continue, suddenly they started firing rubber bullets and gas cannisters at the crowd, the people scattered and when the smoke cleared out they found 58 year old Conchi Santxis who was suffering a heart attack, the crowd begged for help from the Ertzaintza officers, who refused it, soon after Conchi Santxis died, one more victim of the intolerance.

Vote by vote Basques, Catalonyans, Galizans and Spaniards said no to Aznar's Francoist postures, vote by vote they said no to Mariano Rajoy's perpetuating the PP's Francoist agenda.

At the end of the day a grim faced Aznar had to conced defeat, Mariano Rajoy did the same not before making a fool of himself by calling the PSOE a bunch of ignorant reds.

Victorious was Jose Luis Rodrigues Zapatero for the PSOE, the Socialists that have nothing to do with Lenin, the same PSOE that eight years ago was voted out of office due to their corruption and the way they handled the Basque conflitct, by deploying their own terrorist group known as the GAL.

So, the political landscape is not really an improvement for the Basques or Catalans that did managed to reinforce their respective autonomic parties. Lets see how Zapatero will manage the present political crisis in Spain.

Someone please tell Powell to read the news so he stops babbling nonsense, he can try to help Kofi Annan to find a way to revoke that condemnation the UN approved on Thursday when they were fooled by a bloodthirsty and pseudo-democratic Spanish regime.

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Tssk, Powell, Read the News...

Someone please tell Powell that the PP lost the elections in Spain and that he does not need to keep insisting that it was ETA who was behind the attacks.

You would expect that a member of a minority would be more in tune with the suffering of a society that has been accused of a heinous crimes and that today stands clean and proud and mourning the death of a 61 year old baker who's only crime was to be Basque according to Francoist scumbags Jose Maria Aznar, Mariano Rajoy, Ana Palacio and Angel Acebes.

Shame on you Powell.

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Breaking News!

This information has been published by Yahoo News:

AP: Madrid Bombing, 9/11 Suspect Linked

48 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!

By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer

MADRID, Spain - One of the three Moroccans arrested in the Madrid train bombings is linked to a man jailed in Spain for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11 attack in the United States, according to court documents reviewed by The Associated Press. It was the latest suggestion that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group may have been involved in the bombings.

A Sept. 17, 2003 indictment named Jamal Zougam, 30, as a "follower" of Imad Yarkas, who was jailed for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. Zougam has been arrested in the Madrid bombings. Yarkas, who has used the alias Abu Dahdah, remains in Spanish custody.

The indictment, led by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, showed police had searched Zougam's home twice. One search turned up a video of mujaheddin fighters in Dagestan, Russia.

Zougam is one of three Moroccans and two Indians arrested in the Thursday attacks, which killed 200 people and wounded 1,500. Officials said phones were apparently used as detonators on the 10 bombs that tore through four rush-hour trains.

Zougam was one of thousands of Moroccans put under surveillance by authorities after May terrorist bombings in the coastal city of Casablanca that killed 33 people and 12 bombers, a Moroccan official said on condition of anonymity.

European intelligence agencies were also working Sunday to identify a purported al-Qaida operative who claimed in a videotape that the terror group bombed trains in Madrid to punish Spain's backing of the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

The tape was discovered in a trash bin near Madrid's largest mosque on the eve of Spain's general elections Sunday. An Arabic-speaking man called a Madrid TV station to say the tape was there, Spain's Interior Ministry said.

"You love life and we love death," said the man on the tape, who wore Arab dress and spoke Arabic with a Moroccan accent.

The man said the taped claim of responsibility for the bombing of four commuter trains came from "the military spokesman for al-Qaida in Europe, Abu Dujan al Afghani."

The Interior Ministry released details about its contents, and intelligence agents were trying to identify the man, verify his claims and establish who Abu Dujan al Afghani is.

"Our reservations about the credibility remain," Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said Sunday.

In France, which has combated Islamic terrorism for years, an intelligence official said the name al Afghani is likely a pseudonym. The name al Afghani could mean the person is of Afghan origin or has some association with the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said it was too early to say if al-Qaida was responsible.

Two Spaniards of Indian origin have also been detained for questioning.

One of the Moroccans had already been under surveillance since last May, when suicide bombings in Casablanca against Jewish and Spanish targets

Zougam faces no formal charges in Morocco. The Casablanca bombings were blamed on Salafia Jihadia, a secretive, radical Islamic group suspected of links to al-Qaida.

The other two Moroccan suspects, Mohamed Bekkali, 31, a mechanic, and Mohamed Chaoui, a worker, 34, have no police record at home, the official said.

The Spanish interior minister, however, said three of the suspects had previous records, and one was under investigation for suspected participation in murder. He earlier had said that one suspect might also have connections with Moroccan extremist groups. He gave no further details.

The interior ministry identified the two Indian suspects as Vinay Kohly and Suresh Kumar.

The five were arrested after a cell phone and prepaid card were found in an explosives-filled gym bag on one of the bombed trains.

Friends of the Moroccans said the Madrid store where they worked sold cell phones but they insisted that the men would not have been involved in planning or carrying out the attacks.

"People shouldn't be put in jail for selling cell phones. They are hard workers," said Karim, who works in a phone shop near the now-shuttered store where the arrested Moroccans worked. Karim did not want to give his last name.

Police searched five properties overnight, Acebes said.

Authorities have been tracking Islamic extremist activity in Spain since the mid-1990s and say it was an important staging ground, along with Germany, for the Sept. 11 attacks.

___

Associated Press writer John Leicester in Madrid and Nicolas Marmie in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.

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Hate Crime

Today at Berria English:

Spanish police officer kills member of “Gurasoak” association in Iruñea

Iruñea-born Angel Berroeta was killed in his bakery; the police officer was arrested, as was his son

Asier Azpilikueta – IRUÑEA (Pamplona)

61-year-old Angel Berroeta-Legaz from Iruñea was killed at midday yesterday by a member of the Spanish Police in the bakery belonging to the former located in the Donibane (San Juan) quarter of Iruñea. The police officer was off duty and stabbed and shot Berroeta several times after a heated argument. It was alleged to have been a political argument (Berroeta was a member of the Gurasoak association). The police officer who fired the shots was arrested and so was his son, who was thought to have taken part in the argument.

Angel Berroeta’s bakery is at 18, Martin Azpilkueta street in the Donibane quarter and the police officer lives next door in flat “C” on the first floor. According to neighbours, at about 13.30 hours the policeman's wife had had a heated argument with Berroeta about a poster saying ETA, ez (No to ETA); the neighbours were eager to stress that the woman did not go to that bakery to get bread, “as she always goes to buy bread at the bakery opposite”.

The woman appears to have requested or demanded that Berroeta put a poster in his shop window, but the latter refused. And that was how the fatal argument began. After that the versions given by the neighbours differ somewhat. Some say the police officer was outside and others that he was in the flat. Whichever the case, the woman called the police officer and he went into the bakery and shot and stabbed Berroeta several times.

The police officer and the woman left the bakery and went to their flat. According to a witness in the same block of flats the woman said, “It was my fault, it was my fault.”

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Oops! You Mean, No Basques?

Today at Berria English:

Three Moroccans and two Indians arrested in connection with attack

Acebes said they were detained following the lead of a telephone discovered in a bag which failed to go off

Editorial Staff – DONOSTIA (San Sebastian)

Last night Angel Acebes, the Spanish Interior Minister, announced the arrest of five people who could be linked to the Madrid attacks: three are Moroccans and the other two Indians. He said they had been detained yesterday afternoon, because they were thought to have had something to do with the “sale and tampering” of a phone and SIM card found in the bag of explosives that did not go off.

Minister went on to explain that statements were also being taken from two Spaniards of Indian origin. He stressed that the operation “had only just begun” and asked for caution. He said that the police were searching the homes of the detainees. He explained that the operation was being directed by “the corresponding judge” of the Spanish National Criminal Court.

Despite admitting that a lot of progress was being made in the line of investigation relating to the involvement of an Islamist organisation, Acebes said that neither the hypothesis concerning ETA, nor the possibility of “cooperation between terrorist organisations” should be ruled out. Acebes was pleased with the way the investigation was proceeding. “Even though we’ve only just begun, we have obtained important results already. For instance, it is only 60 hours after the attack we already have five arrests. This investigation opens up an important path along which to advance,” he said. Nevertheless, he reiterated that it was necessary to proceed “with caution”. He was proud of the work of the Spanish Security forces. “They have confirmed what I said on the first day, that we would arrest the perpetrators of the attack and that they would pay for what they had done,” he said.

However, he still clung on to the possibility of ETA being responsible: “Other theories must not be ruled out. From the beginning we instructed the Police to follow up the two main lines and they continue to work along all the lines.”

Acebes did not confirm that the detainees were being accused of being behind the attack, but that they could have been responsible for the tampering and sale of the phone which had been discovered. “It is now up to the police to take their statements and look into the extent to which they could be responsible.” The mobile phone was discovered the day before yesterday in a bag along with explosives and a detonator taken from one of the trains. Sources close to the investigations indicated that the examination of the configuration of the phone card would be crucial. A radio station said yesterday, before Acebes announced the arrests, that the configuration of the phone was in Arabic.

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Sticking to the Official Version

As you can read on the last paragraph of the most recent "Breaking News" even after a van with detonators and tapes of the Quran in Arabic, an email from a front group for Al-Quaeda claiming responsability, the arrest of three Moroccans that may have ties to an extremist group that carried attacks against Jewish centers in Morocco not too long ago, and a tape from Al-Quaeda itself claiming responsability, the Spanish regime insists on blaming ETA, what a band of scumbags they are, the Spanish officials that is, well, and so is ETA.

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Along Comes a Tape

Aznar and his PP are in trouble, their lies are out there for all of us to see. This note was published by Yahoo News:

Tape Claims al-Qaida Tied to Spain Blasts
1 minute ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!

MADRID, Spain - Spain's interior minister said Sunday a videotape has been discovered claiming al-Qaida carried out the Madrid terrorist attacks and threatening more, but that he could not verify the veracity of the claim. Earlier, Spain arrested three Moroccans and two Indians in connection with the attacks Thursday that killed 200 people and wounded 1,500.

Interior Minister Angel Acebes said a man identifying himself as the military spokesman of Al-Qaida in Europe claimed the group was responsible for the bombings.

"We declare our responsibility for what happened in Madrid exactly 2 1/2 years after the attacks on New York and Washington," said the man, according to a government translation of the tape, which was recorded in Arabic. "It is a response to your collaboration with the criminals Bush and his allies."

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has been a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites).

A London-based Arabic newspaper had earlier received a claim of responsibility in al-Qaida's name; but the government has been reluctant to blame the Islamic group, saying the Basque separatist group ETA was also a suspect. ETA denied responsibility.

Speaking at a hastily called post-midnight news conference at the interior ministry, Acebes said authorities could not confirm the claim was genuine. He said the videotape was discovered after an Arabic-speaking man called a Madrid TV station and said where it could be found.

A statement from the ministry said the speaker was identified as Abu Dujan al Afghani. Acebes said the man was not known to law enforcement authorities in Spain, and that they were checking the tape's authenticity.

The man threatened further attacks in the video.

"This is a response to the crimes that you caused in the world, and specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites), and there will be more if God wills it," the man said, according to the Spanish government's translation.

Thursday's attacks in Madrid came just days before Sunday's general elections in Spain. At demonstrations Saturday, some protesters said they believed the ruling party was playing down the possible link between the bombings and Spain's role in Iraq, fearing it would hurt the party's chances in the election.

Acebes, speaking at a news conference on Saturday, said the five suspects were all arrested around Madrid. A spokesman for the Moroccan government identified the three Moroccans as as Jamal Zougam, 30; Mohamed Bekkali, 31, a mechanic; and Mohamed Chaoui, 34. All three are from northern Morocco, but the government gave no further details about them.

"One might have connections with Moroccan extremist groups. But it is still very early to establish to what degree," Acebes said. He did not name any group.

Asked whether the Basque separatist group ETA is still considered a suspect, Acebes said: "We must not rule anything out."

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