Al Qaeda or the Basque Separatists??

[theoddz]

I am simply and completely appalled at the latest round of mass carnage in Spain. Although I completely suspect Al Qaeda and/or its various operatives from other like-minded groups, I can hardly keep from wondering about the information that has been introduced that might implicate Spain's Basque Separatist group, ETA.

Does anyone here have a simple and concise idea of exactly who this Basque group is?? It sounds to me that what has happened is on quite the grander scale than what has, historically, been typical of them.

I still think it smacks of Al Qaeda and am interested to hear the opinions of others here.

Peace.

[BLUEHAWK]

ETA has been around a long time (at least 30 years that I am sure of), pretty much identical in a lot of ways with the IRA, and for similar reasons. They want their country back from an Imperialist oppressor, so they have been saying.

Your thread reminded me, however, that there IS in fact just one thing that unites all such groups... terrorism. It also made me think that terrorists worldwide, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, IRA, ETA etc etc etc might better be thought of as constituting ONE enemy force instead of several, eh?

Wonder if our own scout snipers and bedraggled homespun units would've been considered "terrorists" by the British in the late 1700's?

[Seascamp]

This area is well populated with Spanish Basques and most are in empathy with ETA, not unlike the Boston area was/is in some level of empathy with the IRA. I do not recall a time when the Basques here had a good thing to say about the Spanish and there are nearly as rough on the French Basques. The rub there is that the French Basques are more or less content and not particularly interested in conflict with the French government. Culture wise, the Basques are not a bit like the Spanish and even differ in physical appearance, having some unique physical aspects. They do share the same launguage and Catholic faith but that is as far as it goes, beyond that, nada. At least part of the rub is that most of southern Spain; not all the Pyrenees Mountains, were occupied by the Moors (North African Arabs) at a time and the usual inbreeding and dilution of the culture occurred.

At this moment in time Al Qaeda has the most to gain because in one stroke they can knock Spain out of the war on terror completely. Spain?s participation in the war on terror is very unpopular with their population and it could be that today?s election will kick out the current Government and bring in the Socialists. If that happens, it is highly probable that Spain will pull out of both Afghanistan and Iraq. The current Government is very reluctant to take Al Qaeda?s claimed responsibility to the bank, for obvious reasons, and is slow playing it. Those who claim to be in the know say that the bombing is ?the day Europe changed? and I assume this means that other countries will be intimidated and back down from Al Qaeda threats. Presumably the war on terror could get very lonely all of a sudden, we?ll see.

Scamp

[Stick]

Al Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad? What happened in Spain on March 11, '04. I don't see too much to tie either of these groups to the happenings of this week. Any of the groups depend on at least one of their members (martyrs?) going down with those that they terrorize. Was it a coincidence that Spain happened 911 full days since the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the US? I don't think so. Unfortunately Usama has his fingerprints on Spain and it's the scariest attack yet. He's changed his tactics and now he doesn't have to find someone that is willing to go out with a bang. All they have to do is plant the bomb.

[Keith_Hixson]

Had lunch with a man from Spain. He believes the terrorist attack will make the Spanish more aware of world terrorism and make them more interested in fighting terror.

Don't know, we'll see. Sometimes what terrorist do has a reverse effect.

Keith