Aznar 'wiped files on Madrid bombings'

[CottonBear]

All computer records in PM's office destroyed, says Zapatero

Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Tuesday December 14, 2004
The Guardian

Spain's former prime minister José María Aznar wiped all computer records at his office referring to the March 11 Madrid train bombings and the rest of his period of government, his successor José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said yesterday.
Mr Zapatero told a parliamentary commission on the bombings that he had no idea whether records were made of crisis meetings held at the prime minister's office after the attacks that killed 191 people, as computer hard-drives and security copies were wiped clean.

"There was nothing, absolutely nothing... everything had been wiped," Mr Zapatero told a raucous session of the parliamentary commission. "There is nothing from March 11 to March 14 in the prime minister's office."

Mr Zapatero, whose Socialists won a surprise election victory three days after the bombings, said the incoming government had been left the bill for the erasing.

...snip...

Mr Zapatero accused Mr Aznar's conservative People's party government of having tried to fool Spaniards into believing the armed Basque group Eta, not radical Islamists, carried out the attacks. "It was massive deceit," he said

more...

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,1373280,00.html>

Aznar used * type tactics.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Should be a criminal offense, destroying gov't records.....

[CottonBear]

They left (some) paper documents and a bill for the erasure!

What crooks! Who knows what information was lost.

...snip...

Mr Zapatero, whose Socialists won a surprise election victory three days after the bombings, said the incoming government had been left the bill for the erasing.

The newspaper El País reported yesterday that the job cost €12,000 (£8,200) and included erasing all email records.

The only records handed to the incoming government were paper documents, the newspaper reported.

..snip...

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,1373280,00.html>

[Benhurst]

5. Gosh, I find it hard to believe a good friend of George Bush would

do something like that.

[rodeodance]

3. h, I am sure copies will show up some place

Oh, I am sure copies will show up some place some where, some time.
Stupid idiot!!

And it probably is a crime--but what does he care at this point.

[pinerow]

2. La verdad es la verdad....

nt

[goforit]

4. Shouldn't that be life imprisonment for all in Anzar's cabinet

I would say so.

[tngledwebb]

6. More to this, rife with 9/11 parallels from the beginning.

For one thing, the response of the Spanish public after the train bombings should be a lesson for all Americans.

And especially considering how recently Spain escaped from a fascist dictatorship.

[neweurope]

7. I agree with you. Those parallels had me wondering, too.

[tngledwebb]

11. Check the archives and related threads on 9/11 forums.

Or google similar terms. One theory is that the Spanish 9/11 was a trial run to see how a second round of attacks here would affect OUR elections. Remember what Bush said about it?
Fortunately, in respect to human life, it wasn't necessary- there were more reliable ways of determining the outcome.

[neweurope]

12. Well - it made the Europeans form a central anti-terror agency.

And within ten days they decided on new passports, central surveillance, biometric data and a lot of other things that the US had pressed them for before. Not nearly as bad as your PATRIOT I and II but bad enough :( Now it's possible to much better spy on the population than before. And - depending on interpretation - it even might be possible now to use the military against the population. For instance when there are big demonstrations against a visiting head of state...

The Spanish 9/11 changed a lot.

Just like the American 9/11.

[Swamp Rat]

8. Aznar should be arrested for helping the terrorists

This helps nobody but himself and the terrorists... perhaps they are one and the same.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Anyone wanting to read more on this subject can check Maddezmom's thread

posted yesterday morning:

Ex-Spain Govt Erased Records After Bomb, Zapatero

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1067029

[CottonBear]

10. Thanks for the link. n/t

[flordehinojos]

13. Aznar may have been following some of POPPY's tactics on covering up your

tracks...err, @ss!

[Minstrel Boy]

14. Remember this? "Bomb squad link in Spanish blasts"

From The Times of London:

The man accused of supplying the dynamite used in the al-Qaeda train bombings in Madrid was in possession of the private telephone number of the head of Spain’s Civil Guard bomb squad, it emerged yesterday.

Emilio Suárez Trashorras, who is alleged to have supplied 200kg of dynamite used in the bombs, had obtained the number of Juan Jesús Sánchez Manzano, the head of Tedax.

The revelation has raised fresh concerns in Madrid about links between those held responsible for the March bombings, which killed 190 people, and Spain’s security services, and shortcomings in the police investigation. Señor Suárez Trashorras and two other men implicated in the bombings have already been identified as police informers. Other members of the group had evaded police surveillance, despite concerns within the security services about their activities and evidence of their association with al-Qaeda.

The telephone number of Señor Sánchez Manzano was contained in a Civil Guard dossier handed to Juan del Olmo, the investigating judge, at the National Court in Madrid. The number was written on a piece of paper found in the possession of Carmen Toro, the wife of Señor Suárez Trashorras. Both are in custody accused of supplying dynamite used in the Madrid bombs.
http://avantgo.thetimes.co.uk/services/avantgo/article/0,,1150429,00.html