Madrid atrocities: Who is responsible?

Today hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of Madrid and other Spanish cities in a spontaneous outpouring of pain, grief and rage. Many thousands of people in cities as far apart as Cordoba and Granada in Andalusia and Zaragoza in northern Spain, broke with their routine to join demonstrations during the day in protest at the terrorist attacks.

The people of the Basque Country were to the fore in expressing their indignation at the massacre in Madrid. Starting yesterday there were mass concentrations in Bilbao and other Basque cities. This spontaneous show of solidarity of working people in Euskadi with their comrades in Madrid has cut across all national divisions. Ordinary working class people extended their hand in friendship and solidarity from one end of the country to another.

The CCOO and UGT trade unions called for a 15-minute stoppage at factories and workplaces. The Marxist-led Spanish Students' Union's (SE) switchboard was jammed with numerous calls from young people asking for directives. The SE has called for strikes and demonstrations today, following mass meetings in the schools and colleges at 12 midday.

Madrid awoke this morning in a state of shock and commotion, in which pain was mingled with bewilderment and disorientation. People are stunned by the scale of the devastation. Bars and shops stood empty throughout the morning as thousands of people gathered in the city's central Puerta del Sol Square in a silent act of commemoration.

As the rubble is cleared away, more details are emerging about the atrocity. Ten bombs ripped through trains and stations in Madrid yesterday, leaving a bloody trail of death and maiming in Spain's worst terrorist attack ever. Not since the Civil War in the 1930s has Madrid been the scene of such a massacre.

The list of casualties rises inexorably: there are almost two hundred dead and over 1,400 injured. Almost all of them are working class people and students, caught in this inferno while travelling to work or school in the middle of the rush hour. Whoever perpetrated this crime knew what they were doing. The only aim was to cause the maximum carnage and slaughter of innocent people.

It goes without saying that such actions cannot be justified. Whoever perpetrated this massacre are enemies of the cause of socialism and the working class. They are also enemies of the struggle for national liberation and are actively helping the cause of reaction and imperialism.

For the moment, the grief of the masses is too deep for words. But beneath the surface grief and suffering, another mood is stirring – a mood of anger and indignation. Questions are being asked. And the people are demanding answers. Twenty-four hours after the bloody massacre there is still no firm proof of the identity of the perpetrators. The attention of the entire nation is centred on one question: who is responsible?

Yesterday, while not discounting a connection with al Qaeda or related groups, we thought there were more grounds for a link with ETA, or, more likely, extremist elements in or around ETA, or a splinter group. We have seen this kind of thing before, as in Ireland, where the Omagh bombing, which caused serious civilian loss of life, was perpetrated by just such a split in the Provisional IRA.

ETA has not claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings, but this is not conclusive. ETA usually waits days or weeks before taking responsibility for its attacks, although it has never carried out a terrorist act of this scale before. On the other hand, it is surprising that ETA has not issued any statement on the Madrid atrocity 24 four hours later. If they were not involved, one would have thought they would have disowned it. This silence is even more inexplicable given the massive spontaneous demonstrations of the Basque people protesting against the bombings.

The explosive used in yesterday's blasts was titadine, a compressed dynamite that ETA has used in the past. More explosives were found in the possession of an alleged ETA member, who was said to have intended to put them aboard a train. On the other hand, this kind of attack does not fit in with the pattern of ETA's attacks in the past. Previous attacks by ETA were usually specifically focused and preceded by warnings. Its worst attack was a supermarket blast in Barcelona in 1987 that killed 21, but the deaths occurred because ETA's warning was not heeded.

Yesterday the leader of the banned Basque freedom party Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi, denied Basque involvement. Instead he pointed the finger at what he called "the Arab resistance". Otegi's denial was unusually emphatic: "The Basque pro-independence left wishes to express the most absolute rejection of what happened today in Madrid. Indiscriminate actions against civilians, against workers... are absolutely and firmly rejected."

Batasuna said the statement would be valid "no matter what happens". Asked if that would stand even if ETA were to claim the attack, the spokesman said: "We are not going to change this analysis."

Julen de Madariaga, who created ETA in the 1950s and was once its leader, said it would be unlike the group to attack busy, working-class areas. A similar statement from the office of Batasuna's representative in the European Parliament, Koldo Gorostiaga, said: "The action should be considered as a massacre, and that it does not have any justification."

Despite this and official denials of responsibility for the slaughter in Madrid, other prominent "founding members" told The Independent yesterday that their movement was responsible for the attacks. Even as Batasuna, blamed the attacks on "Islamic militants", an ETA official, the recently banned mayor of a fishing village near San Sebastian, justified the atrocities. "Aznar never gave us any choice. If we are not given the chance to engage in a democratic struggle, we will get our independence through other means," he said.

These contradictions indicate the existence of sharp differences within ETA. The lack of any tangible results after decades of so-called "armed struggle" has led to disappointment and demoralisation in the ranks of the abertzale movement. ETA is increasingly isolated. In such situations, there is always a tendency for nationalist movements to split on class lines.

The leadership of ETA has been repeatedly decimated by arrests in recent years and replaced with increasingly younger and more radical elements. Inside the movement there is a polarization between the militarists and the Left. A growing section is questioning the tactics and methods of ETA in the past period, and is looking for a way out. Another, smaller, wing wishes to continue with its militarist tactics. In the end, the two tendencies will part company, and the left wing will find a way to the ideas of Marxism and the class struggle.

The existence of splits in ETA may well be the explanation for the absence of a communiqué about the Madrid bombing. One section is drawing the conclusion that the so-called "armed struggle" that has dragged on for 30 years and caused 800 deaths without obtaining the desired results, is counterproductive, while another wing wishes to continue as before, and are reluctant to condemn the Madrid bombing, even if they were not responsible for it.

Yesterday's atrocity underlines the point we have made so many times. Individual terrorism is reactionary because it always plays into the hands of reaction and imperialism. In the ranks of the abertzale movement there are many who see the futility of such methods and are seeking an alternative. That alternative exists. It is the Marxist revolutionary alternative of the class struggle that unites the working class above all distinctions of language, race, religion or nationality, and that fights for a socialist world.

Indiscriminate bombings of civilians have not been typical of ETA's methods. They are, however, completely in consonance with the methods of al Qaeda. Certain discoveries now give greater credence to the hypothesis of an al Qaeda attack. The police have found a van with detonators and a tape with Koranic verses. A letter claiming responsibility was received by Al-Quds Al-Arabi paper in London.

Although al-Qaeda has never struck with such force on mainland Europe, many terrorism experts now believe Islamic terrorists are more likely to have been responsible. The absence of any warning, the multiple, simultaneous explosions, and, above all, the sheer scale of the killing appeared to bear the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda attack.

The editor of Al Quds, Abdel Bari Atwan, said he believed the claim of responsibility by al Qa'ida was genuine. "In the past, the same organisation sent us similar letters. They claimed responsibility for the attacks against Italian troops in Iraq and also for other attacks in Istanbul against the British consulate," he told Sky News.

The e-mail, issued by the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri in the name of al Qaeda, said its "death squad" had penetrated "one of the pillars of the crusader alliance […] This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam," it said.

However, it is by no means certain that this email is genuine. The Americans, who could be expected to trumpet the responsibility of al Qaeda, have reserved judgement. This suggests that they are not sure. In fact, they have cast doubt on the genuineness of the letter to Al Quds, pointing out that al Qaeda does not usually claim responsibility so quickly. But this fact does not prove that al Qaeda was not involved.

As more and more information comes out, indicating the likelihood of al Qaida involvement, the mood of the masses is changing. The initial shock is turning into fury. And the anger of the masses is now beginning to turn against Aznar and the government. In the demonstrations today there were angry shouts against the PP leader for dragging Spain into the invasion of Iraq and slavishly supporting Bush and Blair.

The terrorist attack on innocent men, women and children in Madrid was a monstrous act that cannot be justified. But we should remember that thousands of innocent men, women and children were also killed and maimed in Baghdad by the Coalition forces in an unjust war that was launched by George Bush and enthusiastically supported by Blair and Aznar.

Following the discovery of the van and detonators, interior minister Angel Acebes said "all kinds of lines of investigation open up". Belatedly, the PP is being forced to accept a hypothesis that, if it is shown to be true, will cause them serious problems. This can produce a radical transformation in the political situation in Spain to the PP's disadvantage. That is why they are so reluctant to change their original story.

Jose Maria Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, lost no time in blaming ETA after yesterday's bomb attacks. The Popular Party leader, who is due to step down after a general election on Sunday, breathes fire and brimstone, in an attempt to whip up anti-Basque feeling: "We will defeat them [ETA] ... We will succeed in finishing off the terrorist band, with the strength of the rule of law and with the unity of all Spaniards."

The conduct of the PP in relation to this question is designed to increase tension and create an atmosphere in which violence, murder and madness can thrive. Aznar has ruled out negotiations with ETA. He has banned Batasuna. Now he says: "There are no negotiations possible or desirable with these assassins that have so often sown death through all of Spain."

The reason why the PP government immediately blamed ETA for this is clear. They wanted to create a mood of hysteria in which reactionary legislation could be rushed through. In addition it was attempting to draw the leaders of the opposition into a united front for reaction and repression. The leaders of the PSOE and the United Left have accepted this, but this will not necessarily remain the case when they begin to feel the pressure from below.

The latest atrocity demonstrates very clearly the complete failure of the "war on terror". Aznar dragged Spain into the war in Iraq against the opposition of the majority of the Spanish people. Now the Spanish people are called upon to pay a terrible price for the crimes of its leaders.

The invasion of Iraq was a criminal act that had nothing to do with the "war on terror." It is well known that this had been decided upon by the right wing clique around George Bush well before the 11th of September. Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction and posed no threat to the people of America, Britain or Spain. He had already been disarmed after the previous Gulf War.

As far as terrorism is concerned, al Qaeda had no base in Iraq and was a bitter enemy of Saddam Hussein and his secular regime. But now, after the invasion and occupation of Iraq al Qaeda certainly has bases in Iraq and is using them to attack not only the Coalition forces but also other Iraqis who do not share their extremist religious views. This is how the Allies "combat terrorism"!

If it turns out that al Qaeda or some related group was responsible, we have to say that these rabid reactionaries have added another bloody crime to the long list of other crimes. It is completely unacceptable to describe these agents of black reaction as "the Arab resistance" as Arnaldo Otegi apparently did yesterday.

We support the national resistance struggle of the people Iraq against an unjust and illegal occupation. We demand the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraqi soil. But we do not and cannot give any support to the criminal actions of fanatics and psychopaths who kill innocent civilians and perpetrate massacres like the one in Madrid, or the earlier massacre of Shiites in southern Iraq.

Those who planted the bombs must be regarded as the material authors of a crime against humanity. They are not freedom fighters but mere sadists and butchers. But in addition to the material authors of this crime there are others who are responsible. We will name them: George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar. These are the men who, in launching the so-called "war on terror" have stirred up instability throughout the Middle East and acted as the most effective recruiting agents for terrorism.

In a televised address Mr Aznar, said: "March 11, 2004 has taken its place in the history of infamy." Yes, that is true. But the question must now be asked: who is responsible for this infamy?

Let us speak clearly: Spain has been turned into a target for Islamic terrorists by the actions of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. His slavish support for Britain and America in the war against Iraq has enraged the Arabs and prepared the way for terrorist attacks.

Whoever is the material author of the Madrid atrocity, the moral and political responsibility lies with Aznar and his friends in Washington and London.