Madrid: How it was done

[MSchreader]

NOTE: This is an e-mail I received from a leftist friend I know in Norway, who has been compiling the information that has been coming out of Madrid. This is his hypothesis on what happened, how it was done and what it means. As he implies at the beginning, the point of writing this up was to have an overview of what it is we are dealing with, vis-à-vis these rightwing terrorist groups.

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The Madrid carnage

was an awful fascist crime against innocent people. It should be condemned and in no way romanticised.

This said, it was an impressive action. Its planning and execution showed great skill.

I wondered how it was possible to coordinate this kind of big action in the middle of Madrid, to train over 15 people to coordinate their action in such an exact and diciplined way, etc.

As far as I can see, we now can reconstruct the answer to this

I believe it lies in the planning of the action in such a way that they didnt need a big permanent apparatus in Madrid, and it could be executed by people who needed neither to know Madrid nor to have very much training.

The action itself was planned to be very simple in a way that made it robust too - not very much could go wrong.

heres how it MAY have been done:

"Madrid massacre - the Novel"

(Lets say, just to simplify, that this was done by north african islamist fundis.)

A very small cell in Madrid - down to 1-2 persons who live in the city permanently or for many months at least - who possibly are students or workers (and who may even be active in fundi millieus around Mosques - personal security has not allways been watertight in islamist terrorist millieus)

+ Preplan the action. They can circulate on the trains, see when the rush is at its height, get train skedules etc.

+ Lets say they dont have bombmaking skills. They contact activists abroad who have bombmakers and get a list of things to fix. The explosive they are ordered to get is a rubber dynamite that is common in Spanish construction. (In Norway that kind of stuff is very easy to get hold of and used by jealous ex-housbands and Hells Angels and similar scum who bomb their enemies. Possibly a constructor getting 150 kgs of rubber dynamite from an unguarded construction camp wont even report it in order not to get trouble with the police.)

+ Bombmaker comes, assembles bombs, gives last instructions for timing them and goes away. (Another possibility, based on detonators found in car, is that this is done just before the action in order to minimize the risk of accidental discovery and explotions by having allmost-armed bombs lying around for some time.) Possibly they work and store the bombs in the stolen car, maybe in a garage or other safe place (in order to not have the bombs or other suspicious material in the modest pensions or flats of the cell members.)

+ 14 bombers are recruited OUTSIDE of Madrid, possibly outside of spain (france, brussels, germany ...) They are north african arabs who speak some spanish (many morrocans and other north africans do) Possibly, they are told to make dry runs, leaving stuff on subways and trains in their own towns. More probably, they are told nothing at all before they come to madrid.

+ They come to Madrid where they either a) are dispensed into a number of cheap pensions and hotels where north africans and foreign workers are common, or b) are put up for a very few days in one or more safe houses (lets say 2) where they keep a very low profile. This is immediately before the action, lets say only 2-3 days before.

+ They are explained what they shall do, including how to find transportation out of Madrid and home (ideally by bus and train, not buy plane) immediately after placing the bombs.

+ I guess they may train on how to find their way from the stations they will leave and out of madrid, and maybe sent a trip through the train system too, in order to familiarize themselves with the waggons, stations etc. (but maybe not.)

+ On the morning of the attack they all travel in cars or by train/bus to the station where they will enter the trains. They arrive there not long before 700

+ bombs in rucksacs (and plastic bags?) preset to go off 7,39 to 42 are distributed there.

+ They go into the station in groups of 3 - 4 and enter trains at 700, 705, 710 and 7.15

+ drop bombs after one or several stations.

+ leaves stations and immediately go to means of communications that can take them away from madrid during the coming hours.

+ Distributor may be external bomber too, with some knowledge of madrid, who drives bomb car, leaves it, takes one rucksack, enters train, leaves bomb and then leaves madrid

+ (External bomb maker, if he hasnt allready left, leaves immediately after montage of bombs.)

+ Cell in Madrid takes no part in action. Nothing is left - no personal contact, no remnant of bombs - that may connect them whith the action.

(Weak points: Safe houses, IF the external bombers stayed in them and not on their own in hostels. Being seen round stolen car. Being seen with external bombers while instructing them. Possibly, being in on final bomb distribution)

However, the chances are, if the police dont get any witnesses that have seen them or report them having done something suspicious, they may go scot free.

Witnesses who have seen the bombers may not identify anybody if they dont get to look at pictures including young men who live in Paris, Hamburg, Brussels.

+ If no identification, police may be in the dark for a long time to come

+ Best long-term chance of solving crime: The large number involved. Somebody talks (braggs, confesses)

Why no suicide bombers?

Because in the Middle East, where there are many desperate young people available, who have small training but can make a big impression with a sacrifice, this is cost effective.

However in Europe, where cadre are few and especially the disiplined and experienced are long-term investments that cannot be so easily replaced theres no great local social gain in suicide bombings, and its quite costly to the political apparatus.

(Probably easier to recruit 14 + experienced people too, if they do NOT have to promise suicide, all of them!)

This action reminds me about 9/11 in several ways:

+ The aim of creating maximum havoc and mass murder in a shocking and teatrical way

+ The use of relatively simple native resourses, not carrying in arms etc from abroad

+ The use of the rush hour, the use of huge streams of people to cover your own people

+ Ironically - on the 9/11 it seems they all entered on the same "station" too (Boston Airport?) hiding in the rush, and cathcing 4 planes (4 trains!)

+ The organisation based on very skillful planning and specialised leaders and tecnicans leading a number of people who didnt need to be so highly trained, but mainly highly dedicated, disiplined, brave and ruthless.

+ The demonstrative use of many people and relatively great daring:

These were propagandistic terroristic actions.

They were SAYING something like: WE KAN DO THIS, YOU CANNOT STOP US. ISLAMIC YOUTH, WE ARE HITTING THE DEVIL HARD SUPPORT US - JOIN US - FOLLOW US!

Very smart and efficent, according to their goals, of course.

about the ETA ...

one thing is that the ETA is sorta socialist, and as such can hardly condone mass killings of working people (some of whom was probalby even Basque!)

however, another thing ...

Excluse me for asking, but has the ETA EVER done something as remotely ruthlessly elegant and efficently planned?

t----m
Oslo
in favor of revolultion; against individual terrorism and fascist massacres like the one in Madrid

[Kagemusha]

1. So Spain just has a political interest in blaming the ETA.

Figures.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. It's an interesting scenario but why have groups

stopped claiming credit for their actions? Also, I thought ETA had a fairly high death toll over the years, so I don't see why they shouldn't change over to a large attack, anticipating that it will kill many people, but not caring any longer. Can't any group reach a tipping point and feel pushed toward larger gestures?

I don't like the similarity and convenience of these cases involving rather quickly-discovered Arabic tapes of the Koran/ a Koran found in a vehicle with detonators/ flight manuals, though. I never thought it was good evidence in the 9/11 case, and Muslims said at the time that a devout Muslim wouldn't abandon a Koran.

Primarily, I must admit, I just don't want it to have been Al Qaeda because the Bushistas want it so much.

[MSchreader]

3. First of all, ETA denied responsibility for the bombings

If they had done it, they would have taken credit. That's their usual pattern. Second, this is kinda out of their league; they are not good at coordinated, mass bombings.

It has to be somebody with both the nerve and the ability to do such a thing. That's why al-Qa'ida is at the top of the list. (Personally, I would put the CIA up there, too, since this IS in their league, and it's a great way to ensure that the Spanish Right -- Aznar -- wins in the upcoming elections.)

Martin

[Aidoneus]

6. there is a precedence for the parenthesis bit as well

called "Gladio" in 70s Italy, designed to keep the Right in power and weaken the Communist Party that was becoming steadily stronger. This culminated with Italian rightwing agents bombing a train and blaming the left. In that time it was led by the remnants of Mussolini's machine.. is Franco still dead?

I don't know if that was the case here, though it's not really much a different world in some respects from when such tricks were pulled.. if such was the case it appears to be backfiring to some degree, and the first chosen scapegoat (ETA) doesn't seem to have people swallowing the bait as intended.

thanks for sharing the original post above.

[MSchreader]

7. That was one of the examples that I was thinking of

I had always wondered if the so-called "Red Brigades" were, in fact, a part of "Gladio".

And, yes, Francisco Franco is still dead. :evilgrin: :hi:

Martin

[MSchreader]

4. Kick

:kick:

[windansea]

5. more info here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=419949

[Viking12]

8. Many Spanairds

are extremely suspicious of the government too. They've taken to the streets in protest of the investigation.