3/11/2004: Terror in Madrid (warning, graphic)

[Undertoad]

IotD isn't really a news site per se but when lurker mundofer suggested I look at some slideshow images, it was obvious that this was more compelling than anything else today. This is Madrid where Basque separatists (it's believed as I write this) were responsible for a major terror attack.



You have a load of explosives and want to do maximum damage. You create several bombs and set them up in the spaces between the trains and set them off at the same time... at the peak of morning rush hour.

Well in this case it sounds like some of the bombs didn't go off, and so this horrendous massacre of terror was actually less than it might have been -- but still unthinkably horrible with, at this point, more than 180 dead.



And many, many more injured, and because IotD isn't the land of graphic for graphic's sake I've not picked out the dead body images for this post. They're easy to find if you follow the slideshow links, but for some reason, I find the shots of the injured to be just as mind-boggling. The uninjured helping the injred - someone just headed to work, obviously...



If they are survivors that is. One recurring theme in the slideshows is the mobile phone. What is he doing in this picture? Is he looking for someone to call? Is he trying to figure out the name of the person? Is he looking to call a family member? Calling emergency services?



Or maybe just checking the exact time life was completely changed. The injured are maybe more compelling than the dead; they still need help, they will live on.

Man's inhumanity to man: sadly, this is the worst of us.

[Mundofer]

When we in spain had a "coup de etat" in february, 23, 1981. That night was called the "night of the radio" because everybody listen to the radio for news. Today is the "day of the mobile". Although the mobile networks are still congested, everybody is trying to use them: The family and friends trying to contact those who supposedly travelled in the train. Those that were in the train calling their families to tell them that their are alive...
Two notes:
There are more than 900 wounder (many in critical condition)
To understant this thing you must know that next sunday (march, 14) we have elections to the national parliament, so this killings are created to break into our democratic system.

(sorry for my bad english)

[mrnoodle]

Whenever I see something like this I become more and more certain that a terrorist's motives have nothing to do with a "cause."

These are thugs that enjoy killing and maiming. Any higher brain function is only incidental. And when your terrorists come from within your own country, it must be twice as devestating. We in America have the luxury of being able to "profile" the terrorists that want us dead. Our local loonies aren't well-organized enough to pull this kind of thing off. I'm sorry for your country, Mundofer

[Mundofer]

Originally posted by mrnoodle
We in America have the luxury of being able to "profile" the terrorists that want us dead. Our local loonies aren't well-organized enough to pull this kind of thing off. I'm sorry for your country, Mundofer

Are you sure? Remember the Oklahoma building. Nasty things happen in unexpected ways to unexpected people.

[glatt]

I think terrorists usually start out with a cause, but their hatred starts to cloud their thinking. If they were able to think clearly, they would realize that attacks like this hurt their cause. There are other ways to draw attention to your "plight," whatever it is.

While I might have been willing to listen to their ideas before, I am deaf to them now. Stupid terrorists.

[Happy Monkey]

Well funded terrorists, with or without a heartfelt cause, will attract violence-loving thugs.

[mutating string]

I think those who are ready to blow themselves up do have a cause. Even if it seems unclear and clouded to us

[jaguar]

Al queda at least seem to have some logic to their motives (twisted as it may be). ETA are just fucking stupid. Firstly, basque already has signifigant autonomy. Secondly they cannot be fucking stupid enough to think this was going to cause anything but one severe assfucking by every intel service and policing authority. Like seriously - 'lets blow up commuter trains! that'll win their hearts and minds...'. Fuckers.

[dar512]

Might not be the basques. AP says

The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said later Thursday it had received a claim of responsibility issued in the name of al-Qaida.

The government initially blamed Basque separatists for the worst terrorist strike in Spanish history. But the interior minister said other lines of investigation were opened after police found a van Thursday with detonators and an audiotape of Quranic verses near where the bombed trains originated.

[Leah]

Someone needs to blow those Al Queda fuckers out of this world. Get rid of them all (even their families) and this world would be a much better place.

[glatt]

Originally posted by Leah
Someone needs to blow those Al Queda fuckers out of this world. Get rid of them all (even their families) and this world would be a much better place.

Thanks, Leah, for showing us all what it looks like inside the mind of a terrorist.

[Pi]

Right Glatt... Being radical and brutal to others isn't the solution (doin' nothing either, but well...).
We discussed the matter at the academy today and most of us were thinking that it's some kind of revenge because Spain participated activly in Afghanistan and Iraq....

[xoxoxoBruce]

What strikes me most, is the faces of the people who were not injured. Confusion, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to help. Anticipation, what's going to happen next, when and where?
They look like New yorkers looked, 2 1/2 years ago.

[Uryoces]

Originally posted by Leah
Someone needs to blow those Al Queda fuckers out of this world. Get rid of them all (even their families) and this world would be a much better place.

That is the problem, in a nutshell. Blowing the Al Queda fuckers' families away to be more precise. It simply provides more fuel for their pretzel interpretation of Islam.

The difference between you, Leah and a terrorist is that this is the way you feel versus what you would act on. The terrorists have no qualms about acting on those feelings. I would lie if I didn't want to see every every arabic and persian capital city disappear under a mushroom cloud on the afternoon of September 11, 2001. I realized this wasn't a very productive line of thought, and mostly got over it. I imagine that Spanish and American intelligence will find the culprits within a few weeks, and there will be arrest, trials, jailtime, and possibly executions, though I am no expert on Spanish law and capital punishment.

[Torrere]

Soooo.... how long will it take for Madrid to get Googlebombed?

I remember that Spain joined America in the war on Iraq with some 96% of it's population in opposition to the war. This attack has to have a political aim -- I wonder if it is supposed to turn the Spanish people against the leadership who 'brought this tragedy upon them'.