My first thought when I heard about Madrid was ETA, but I knew it was a major escalation in the scope of attackes. Al Qaeda is well known for executing simultaneous attacks, so I wondered if they might be involved.
I thought it was ETA too but if it is Al Qaeda they would have probably targeted Spain because it stood shoulder with the UK and the US in the Iraq war.
Anyone can send an anonymous note to the media. And in these situations, rumors spread very rapidly. One of the things that was most difficult about 9/11 was not knowing what was going on - in this world of 24 hour news cycles and rumors, we were cut off and left with speculation about where else things had hit, how bad the damage was, how many had died. I think the truth's going to come out over time, but meanwhile it is probably most important to console the victims and not to panic.
German news sources are quoting the head of Europol as saying that Eta might have been behind it but that it's not their usual pattern -- they've generally targeted individuals and given warnings when there was a chance that bystanders might be involved.
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timeasmymeasure
I just heard that too
Date: 2004-03-11 01:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-11 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-11 01:38 pm (UTC)Too early to tell.
Date: 2004-03-11 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-11 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-11 03:08 pm (UTC)