Well, I always like to get involved in these cyber-pissing matches after they get nice & wet and right before the thread gets locked. So here goes:
(Sorry, for the long stories. I downloaded them from Lexis-Nexis and they can't be linked.)
Maestro, a little context please -
May 2003 Spain gets its first taste of post-Iraq Islamist terrorism.
The New York Times May 18, 2003 Sunday
AFTEREFFECTS: MADRID;
Spain Denies War Support Left it Bare To Attacks
BYLINE: By EMMA DALY
The Spanish government sought to dismiss suggestions by political opponents that its staunch support for the American-led war in Iraq led suicide bombers in Casablanca to pick out a Spanish club and restaurant on Friday night.
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, campaigning in the Canary Islands for next weekend's regional elections, blamed unidentified "fundamentalists" for the bombings.
"It is not the first time that we have seen things and people linked to Spain facing attacks from these fanatical fundamentalists, these terrorist fundamentalists, and we cannot feel immune from anything inspired by this brutal fundamentalism," he told a rally after holding a minute of silence for the victims.
But Julio Anguita, the former leader of United Left party, whose son was killed while covering the war as a journalist for the Spanish daily El Mundo, accused the United States, Britain and Spain of "stirring up a wasp's nest" and making the world a more dangerous place, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
"This is just the start," he added, according to Agence France-Presse. "The world is becoming less safe. The Bush-Blair-Aznar trinity has lit the rocket fuse, and they don't know what might happen next."
The Spanish Socialist leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, assured the government of his support in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Rodriguez did not explicitly link the attack to the Iraqi conflict but a Socialist official, Jose Blanco, said the attacks confirmed the party's fear that "the war in Iraq was going to provoke more hatred and rancor and, therefore, the threat of more instability."
Mr. Blanco said that although the scale of the attacks was not yet clear, the time had come for the government to "rethink" its position and withdraw troops dispatched to Iraq.
Mr. Aznar's embrace of President Bush's Iraq policy was opposed by more than 90 percent of the Spanish population, according to opinion polls.
On Friday night, at least two suicide bombers entered the Casa de Espana, a privately owned restaurant popular with Moroccan and Spanish businessmen and tourists, causing an explosion and fire that killed or wounded scores of people. A Foreign Ministry official said at least two Spaniards were killed in the bombing, and another three wounded, one badly.
Then
November 2003
Seven Spanish Intellegence Officers get Killed by a Bomb in Iraq
The Independent (London), December 1, 2003
AZNAR RESISTS MOUNTING PRESSURE TO WITHDRAW TROOPS AS BODIES OF AGENTS ARE FLOWN HOME.
...The Socialist's leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, declared solidarity with "Spanish compatriots ... our sons and brothers. This is a day of grief and pain for everyone." But he added: "Let our troops come home as soon as possible."
AND
Feb. 2004 Before the Madrid Bombings
Agence France Presse -- English February 12, 2004
...Spain's opposition Socialist Party (PSOE) leader said Thursday that if he wins a March 14 general election he will withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq at the end of June unless a UN-led force takes charge.
"They will return home if the United Nations does not take charge of the situation" in Iraq, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told Tele 5 television. ...
There were some other stories but my editorial judgement says these are a fair representation of what I found.
Gentlemen, resume your whizzing.
;)
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[b]There ain't no asylum here.
King Solomon he never lived 'round here.[b]
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