Spain and terrorism: One year on

Political bickering mars an anniversary

“THE government wants to honour all the victims of terrorism with sobriety and simplicity, especially all those people who lost their lives or were injured a year ago in an attack that deeply shocked Spaniards, filling our hearts with pain and fright.” So declared Spain's deputy prime minister, Mara Teresa Fernndez de la Vega, last week. This week, the flags flew at half-mast and bells chimed to mark the first anniversary of the day when Islamist terrorists exploded ten bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 and injuring 1,500. In fact the aftermath of the bombings has been marred by political squabbling and rancour.

That is mainly because, three days after the attacks, Spanish voters threw out the centre-right government of José María Aznar, amid accusations that his Popular Party had tried to manipulate public opinion by pinning the blame for the attacks on the Basque terrorist group, ETA. The true attackers actually talked of revenge for the loss of the Moorish kingdom of al-Andalus and of punishing Mr Aznar's government for backing America's war in Iraq. Ever since, Spanish politics has been stuck with two crude positions adopted by the main parties: the PP believes that Osama bin Laden won the election, while the Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero insists that the timing of the attacks was entirely coincidental.

Mr Zapatero's first move as prime minister was to withdraw Spain's troops from Iraq, thereby incurring the wrath of President George Bush. Despite making frantic efforts to mend fences, Mr Zapatero is still waiting for Mr Bush to return his calls. The government reoriented its European Union policy to Spain's traditional support for France and Germany; it has just won the first referendum on the EU constitution, albeit on a turnout of only 42%. And it launched a host of social reforms that have angered the Catholic Church, while delighting most Spaniards. But Mr Zapatero, who has still to live down his nickname “Bambi”, is often seen as a lightweight. Many fear, in particular, that he is not tough enough to cope with regional nationalist demands for more autonomy.

In terms of security, laws in place since 2003 to deal with ETA allow the state to imprison terrorist suspects for up to four years without trial. The interior ministry has also created a joint command to co-ordinate the two main national police forces; recruited more anti-terrorist officers and Arabic experts; and isolated radical Islamist prisoners after newspaper reports claimed that they were running some prison wings. During this anniversary week, politicians, security experts and academics from around the world gathered in Madrid for a three-day meeting to discuss broader plans to fight terrorism.

As for the perpetrators, soon after the attacks seven suspects, mainly Moroccans, blew themselves up, killing a police officer, whose grave was later defiled. This week the police announced the arrest of yet another Moroccan youth suspected of involvement in the bombings, bringing to 75 the number arrested (33 of these have been released). Between six and eight suspects are still thought to be at large.

If March 11th has bequeathed Spaniards anything other than grief, it is a parliamentary commission of which they can feel genuinely ashamed. The commission has been characterised by back-biting and point-scoring, and has achieved nothing. Victims' groups refused to join the anniversary ceremonies. Many accuse the politicians of exploiting the atrocity for political gain. As Pilar Manjn, head of one left-dominated victims' group, said, “what we want is to know the truth...and the people's representatives haven't managed to tell us a year later what brought us to this situation.” Attempts to unite her group with more right-leaning groups representing victims of ETA terrorism ended in bickering and failure.

After eight months of deliberation, the parliamentary commission has come up with trivial recommendations: more police at embassies in Arab and Islamic countries, updating security arrangements in north Africa and elsewhere, hiring more investigators, interpreters and translators. Mariano Rajoy, the PP leader, damned the recommendations as fraudulent, adding that his party just wanted to know the truth. It is what many Spaniards would call una chapuza espanola: a Spanish botched job.

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