SPAIN: A report to Spanish parliamentary deputies has concluded that conservatives in power at the time of the Madrid train bombings underestimated threats from Islamic militants and responded to the massacre by misleading voters to try to salvage an imminent election.
A 300-page report produced by a 16-member panel after a year-long investigation was approved by seven of eight parties represented in the Spanish parliament.
The conservative Popular Party, which ruled at the time of the March 11th, 2004, attack, abstained from yesterday's vote, which capped a year of acrimonious debate. The bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500.
Two days after the attack, Islamic militants released a video claiming responsibility, saying they had acted on behalf of al- Qaeda in revenge for the then prime minister José María Aznar's deployment of peacekeeping troops to Iraq.
The main body of the report said the Aznar government had been warned by Spanish and foreign intelligence services that Spain ran the risk of an attack by Islamic militants.
At least one report from Spanish intelligence made specific mention of the Spanish troop presence in Iraq, which was widely unpopular domestically, as a motive for concern.
But Mr Aznar's government was guilty of "clear underestimation of the announced risks", the commission's report charged, although it said this does not necessarily mean the bombings could have been averted.
The report said that after the attack, as Spain headed into a general election within three days, Mr Aznar's administration followed up with "tendentious information" by insisting that the armed Basque separatist group Eta was to blame even after evidence of an Islamic link mounted.
"It can be said that the government's conduct was driven exclusively . . . by party interests," the MPs said.
Socialists led by José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won the election and quickly brought home the 1,300 troops Mr Aznar had sent to Iraq. Mr Zapatero said he was acting on a campaign pledge, not caving in to terrorists. - (AP)