News: Madrid bombings: Ten years anniversary

BobBertran1992

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Tuesday 11 March 2014 is a day of remembrance - a time to reflect on the darkest day in Spain's recent past.

Perhaps rightly, on the anniversary itself, much of the Spanish media are not discussing the actions of the then government in the days following the 2004 attacks.

But behind the show of unity, there is deep resentment at the way former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar reacted to the attacks.
It is true that the first reaction of many people in Spain, on hearing the news of bombings that morning, was that the Basque militant group Eta was to blame. Eta had killed more than 800 people over the course of its four-decade-long insurgency.

But from the beginning, there was strong evidence, including the type of explosives used, that al Qaeda-inspired militants were behind the attacks.

For three days, Mr Aznar and his ministers kept pointing the finger of blame at Eta.

Amalio, who survived the attacks, accuses Mr Aznar's Popular Party (PP) government of "lying".

With elections just around the corner, he believes they manipulated the facts to suit their own ends. "They could not recognise that it was about our participation in an absurd war in Iraq."

Despite this, the PP lost the general election four days after the bombings.

According to a senior Spanish police source involved in investigating the bombings, there was "no doubt from the very start" that Eta was not involved.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26526704

And another article having an interesting rant about this attack and its consequences

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(...) when the truth was known the government's actions could only be interpreted as deception rather than delusion, and the incumbent Conservatives were defeated at the polls. In their frustration they stuck to the conviction that it had not been an Islamist attack. Ten years on many Conservatives still do, even if the courts settled the issue a long time ago, even after they eventually returned to power. The "conspiracy theory", as it is known, has become some sort of a nostalgic cult, the intense desire to have been always right.

And that is the real explanation of something that often surprises foreigners: the fact that there was no backlash against Spain's Muslim population after the attacks. I have been asked many times if this could be a remnant of Spain's fabled – and often exaggerated – days of religious tolerance in the middle ages. It isn't. Spain ranks among the most religiously tolerant countries in Europe. But in this case it was simply that people's anger was directed elsewhere – against each other. We became our own scapegoats.

What is unfortunate is that the controversy continues to affect the way in which the tragedy is remembered in Spain. Official commemorations avoid speeches. If there are speeches, specifics are left out. What was an act of mass murder tends to be treated in terms of abstract evil. But there might be a silver lining here too. In a way, this lack of interpretation has made it more universal – like Guernica, hanging on a wall a few hundred metres up the street.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...-islamists-eta

Robotic

Anniversary? It sounds so wrong. As if it's a celebration.

I remember this. It's scary how fast time goes. 10 years ago?! wow.

BobBertran1992

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Originally posted by Robotic

Anniversary? It sounds so wrong. As if it's a celebration.

I remember this. It's scary how fast time goes. 10 years ago?! wow.

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the yearly recurrence of the date of a past event

the celebration or commemoration of such a date.

!

ManDown

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Originally posted by Robotic

Anniversary? It sounds so wrong. As if it's a celebration.

I remember this. It's scary how fast time goes. 10 years ago?! wow.

Yeah, anniversary is a weird word. But a lot of (if not most) people use it when talking about an event that happened in the past (or, if they're trying to get around using it, say "10 years since ___").

Anyway, I can't believe it's been that long. Damn.

Sláy

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Originally posted by ManDown

Yeah, anniversary is a weird word. But a lot of (if not most) people use it when talking about an event that happened in the past (or, if they're trying to get around using it, say "10 years since ___").

Anyway, I can't believe it's been that long. Damn.

I get you. It's been a long time. However, it would make sense using the word as it's simply a remembrance of the day.