Reply #25: ETA is dying out

[Dogmudgeon]

Most of the Basques don't like ETA.

Most of the Basque radicals don't like ETA.

Batasuna ("Unity") -- assumed to be the ETA's political arm, like Sinn Fein was to the IRA -- has been distancing itself from ETA.

ETA operatives have been blowing themselves up at a rapid pace. They have preferred small, "kitchen-table" munitions, and it shows.

ETA also has a habit of warning the local authorities before a bomb goes off. This was a trio of big ol' honkin' bombs, and no warning was made.

Sr. Aznar -- who is (ironically) of Basque hertiage himself -- has been extremely anti-Basque since an ETA bomb destroyed his car and chauffeur back in the mid-'90s. I wonder how the decision was made to schedule political rallies around Spain to blame Basque separatists for the bombings. The last several sweeps for ETA members mainly just turned up journalists and newspaper editors.

--bkl