SPAIN: Spain's Prime Minister, Mr José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, yesterday accused the former Popular Party government of deceiving the people over the March 11th Madrid bombings in which 192 people died and over 1,000 were injured.
Mr Zapatero said the PP had played "a massive confidence trick" on the nation. He also alleged that the previous government had erased computer records covering the vital days between the attack on the 11th and the PP defeat in the general election three days later.
Mr Zapatero said that when his team arrived in the prime minister's Moncloa Palace they were unable to study files and records, including the minutes of the crisis cabinet convened after the bombing. The erasure of the discs was far from accidental; a professional IT company had been contracted to carry it out and its bill for €12,000 had been left for the new government to pay.
In giving evidence to the all-party parliamentary commission on events surrounding the massacre, Mr Zapatero said that the Aznar government continued to blame Basque terrorists for the attack when they had no evidence linking it to ETA. "All evidence shows that it was the work of international radical Islamic terrorists," he said on several occasions during more than 10 hours of questioning.
For three days, the Aznar government had stressed that ETA was their main line of investigation. They agreed to open a "secondary line of investigation" only after the van used by the terrorists had been found - within hours of the bombing - and after a London-based Arab newspaper had received a call from alleged Islamic terrorists.
Police found inside the vehicle traces of explosives and an audio tape with verses from the Koran. The London caller admitted responsibility for the attack. But on repeated occasions up until the night of March 13th Mr Ángel Acebes, the then interior minister, reiterated that ETA was the main focus of their investigation.
Two weeks ago when giving his own testimony to the commission, Mr Aznar categorically denied that his government had lied or manipulated evidence to hide the fact that the bombings could be the work of radical Islamic groups. He said he still did not rule out the involvement of ETA, which aimed to destabilise his government on the eve of the general elections.
Mr Aznar testified: "There is undeniable evidence proving links between al-Qaeda and ETA terrorism." He claimed that Basques and Arabs are known to have formed ties in prisons, they obtained their explosives from the same sources and they both had the same targets.
Mr Zapatero threw scorn on these allegations. "All investigations - by the courts, the security forces, by prison authorities and the intelligence services - have concluded that sole responsibility for the preparation and perpetration of the attacks points exclusively to international radical Islamic terrorism," he said.
He said that attacks did not concur with ETA's modus operandi: no warning was received; the attacks were indiscriminate; and the type of explosives used were not part of ETA's arsenal.
In order to stress the al-Qaeda connection, he pointed to Osama bin Laden's specific threat against Spain; the earlier bombing against a Spanish club in Casablanca; and the number of terrorists involved in the Madrid attacks.
When asked if Spain's involvement in Iraq was the reason for the attack - Mr Zapatero withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq only days after taking office - he replied: "No, but our intervention seriously increased the risk." The Socialists have been accused of manipulating the electorate by blaming PP for the bombing. Mr Zapatero was scathing about the allegations. "I do not believe in conspiracy theories," he said. "Particularly in a democracy."