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*Originally posted by SaadiaB: *
^ The message that we kill innocent people, that not a message of Islam.
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As far as I know no religion promotes that kind of message...
sadz, my whole family lives in Europe, just imagine what could happen if this thing grows to other European cities.
^ i know SaadiaB... but these things are happening everywhere. Not so much at this level.. but when i was in pakistan a few weeks backs.. there were i think about 3 blasts in buses...for some its now a way of life (not saying its right though.... )
all nations that supported the war are in danger...
You’re right, no solid facts indicate that it’s aQ, it may or may not be them.
Al Qaida seems to be turning more and more into something resembling characters from a cartoon strip. Every time a bomb goes off there's a trail of incriminating evidence followed by a tape of some nut crowing like some Dr Evil character from a James Bond film.
Beats the hell out of me what it would achieve for their 'cause' bombing a bunch of Spaniards in a train. Sounds unlikely to me but let's see what reasons they can come up with if indeed they have claimed responsibility...and at the moment I'm sceptical of these claims.
^ whats the point in anything? why bomb and kill anyone? cant the message be achieved in any other way? be it the Al Qaida or ETA.. do they need to stoop so low?
sadzzz, war is easier than peace. -Arafat
its just sad....
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*Originally posted by Fraudz: *
It would be kinda funny if its a coincidence and the tapes are the latest songs by khaled and the documents some poor engineers latest project that was due tomorrow at work.
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Spain has engineers submit work reports in Arabic? damn ..I thought I had the tough job.:)
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*Originally posted by mufakkar: *
quote:
**But US officials have told the BBC that **the purported al-Qaeda claims should be treated with caution.
They say it is not al-Qaeda's usual habit to claim responsibility so early and that the investigation is still in its early stages.
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Now we need to trust US officials on this? US officials are more credible now than Foxnews?
A couple of other nuggets. First, the Al-Quds newspaper was the first contacted by Al-Qaeda to calim responsibility for the Turkish bombings, lending some credibility to the letter.
Second, terror analysts find significant reasons for believing the possiblity that AQ could be involved.
Frankly, who knows at this point?
While all fingers in Spain are pointing at the Basque separatist movement ETA as the perpetrators of Thursday’s atrocious train bombings that left some 186 dead and 600 wounded, the attacks carry all the markings of al-Qaida and its jihadi affiliates.
For starters the Brussels-based World Observatory of Terrorism, an independent think tank affiliated with the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, points to five major reasons that cast doubt on the involvement of ETA.
First, 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.
Second, ETA traditionally targets representatives of the government or the administration, such as policemen, the military, magistrates or even journalists who oppose them.
Third, 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.
Fourth, ETA always claims its attacks. Following any ETA bombing, ETA militants call in a claim to Spanish authorities. This failed to happen this time.
Fifth, 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, these murderous attacks bear the traditional hallmark of al-Qaida: multiple bombs detonating a few seconds apart and programmed to cause the largest possible number of human casualties.
Again, according to the World Observatory of Terrorism, several elements seem to point to the “International Jihad Movement.”
The “multiple targeting,” reports the WOT, is the standard operating procedure of the fundamentalist Islamist movement.
Just look at the past attacks attributed to al-Qaida; the twin attacks against the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salam on Aug. 7, 1998, the double attacks in Istanbul last year, the various attacks in Iraq and of course, the twin 9/11 bombings against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Furthermore, attacks planned to cause large numbers of civilian casualties is the preferred jihadi approach.
Spain, says the WOT, is “an acceptable target” for al-Qaida for is unfaltering support of the United States in the war in Iraq. 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.
The Madrid bombings appear to be unlike anything ETA has accomplished in the past. French and German intelligence officers who spoke to United Press International on condition their names not be revealed say, “the Madrid attacks are far too sophisticated to be the work of ETA. There was too much logistics involved for this to be the work of ETA.”
Several Islamist movements were traced to Spain, and some were apprehended and dismantled, intelligence officials reported. The Brussels think tank further stated in a previous report that Spain was “classified in eighth position on the list of Western countries most threatened by the jihadist movement.”
“We underlined that the countries participating in the coalition in Iraq – including Spain – could expect to be the target of Islamic attacks,” said Claude Moniquet of the WOT.
Re: Spain Blast
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*Originally posted by SaadiaB: *
If ETA did this, why would they say that they did? Can't they make it look like an islamic terrorist attack. Why would AlQaida do such a thing to the normal spanish working class, it doesnt make sense to me, why don't they go and blast the policies makers and leave the normal class alone??
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Whenever a terrorist group strike ..they covey a message 'If you wont accept my demand then You will face this again and again'.So if some terrorist group does it they will jump to say that they did it because this is why it was done. If ETA has done it then they have no reason to say that they didnt do it. They wont take all that risk for nothing.
Where as If Al-Qaeda have done it they are conveying the message 'If you are with US you are against me and you will face this'.
Lets see how events unfold.
I'm really confused as to why idiot terrorists would tote around a Koran and manuals, etc too. BUT ...
All our theorizing as to why they carry these things is either that it's last minute checks/prayers or a calling card. Both of those suggest that they want to be identified after they die.. but these weren't suicide bombings. Physical material leaves more clues than an email. If they are still alive and want to claim responsibility, why that? The clues we're getting which point to aQ are ones that are usually found after suicide attacks.
There have been links between aQ and ETA in the past.
Enough evidence has been collected that a quick determination on who was responsible should be had, be it ETA, aQ, aQ-ETA collaboration, or 3rd party.
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Now we need to trust US officials on this? US officials are more credible now than Foxnews?
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I am quoting US officials here to make a point that even they are skeptical of early reports suggesting Al qaeda's involvement. Furthermore I do not believe I have cast aspersions on US officials credibility.
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*Originally posted by mufakkar: *
I am quoting US officials here to make a point that even they are skeptical of early reports suggesting Al qaeda's involvement. Furthermore I do not believe I have cast aspersions on US officials credibility.
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The Spanish ambassador to the UK has just been interviewed by the BBC this evening, and he is still very much blaming ETA. He stated that some of there leaders had been arrested recently, and that probably led to much more vicious people taking over. Plus ETA had threatened to carry out attacks especially with general election in a few days, and had planted bombs on trains back in December.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by SaadiaB: *
What do you believe, is AlQaida behind those attacks ?
I can't believe that whatever sh*t happens that Muslims are behind it or is this a secret war against islamic nations.
Don;t know who did it. Will wait to make a judgement.
If ETA did this, why would they say that they did?
because violence done for political goals is worthless if you don't claim and let the other side know we cna do this. question is why would a political group commit violence and not take credit for it? if oyu are going to deny it why even do it.
Can't they make it look like an islamic terrorist attack.
possible they or some other group did so to cause more rift between muslims and Spain.
Why would AlQaida do such a thing to the normal spanish working class, it doesnt make sense to me,
you beleive Alqaida is good and fighting for glory of your religion or God. take that belief out and see if it makes sense or not.
why don't they go and blast the policies makers and leave the normal class alone??
so you are not against killing and blasts. good to know.
But if they do say that muslims are the ones who did this then, we are in for some good times, I mean it seems like we are stamped as terrorist and even if you are against all this terror.
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Late into tonight Spain is still insisting that ETA seems to be behind these attacks…
**Spain Min Insists ETA Is Prime Suspect For Madrid Attack **
Basque terrorist group ETA remains the prime suspect behind Thursday’s deadly attack on Madrid-bound commuter trains, Eduardo Zaplana, the spokesman for the Spanish government, said late Thursday.
Speaking via telephone on state-owned Television Espanola, Zaplana said that despite reports that Islamic terror groups linked to al-Qaida claimed responsibility, almost all evidence “points in the same direction, which is toward ETA.” Zaplana, who has the rank of government minister, said he wanted to " categorically deny" that Thursday’s string of explosions had been carried out by suicide bombers. He said police investigations had ruled out this possibility.
The minister also sought to play down a letter sent by the al-Qaida-linked Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri to the London-based Arabic newspaper, Al Quds al- Arabi. He said that although the letter would be investigated, police normally takes up to two months to verify the authenticity of such documents. Basque Homeland and Freedom, or Euskadi ta Askatasuna in the Basque language, is believed by police to number perhaps only several dozen hard-core militants who are supported by a wider group of Basque nationalists.
Spain isn’t the only one who late into tonight is still insisting that ETA seems to be behind these attacks. 
Will there still be as much outrage at this ‘unbelievable attrocity’ if a Middle Eastern group is found to be behind this?
Are you saying Spain is lying?
Of course there will be outrage if some other group apart from ETA is found to be responsible later. Believe me there will be more outrage than some American’s have shown, even after their military has killed tens of thousands of civilians after 9/11 - many more times than Al Qaida is alleged to have.