29 November 2004

MADRID - Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznarinsisted that his government told the truth in the aftermath of the 11 March Madrid train bombings as he gave testimony to a parliamentary inquiry.

"We told the truth -- it was others who lied and engaged in manipulation," insisted Aznar as he roundly defended his government's decision to pin the blame for the blasts, which killed 191 people and injured close on 2000, on the Basque separatist group ETA.

Spain's worst ever terrorist attack came with the country engaged in the final days of campaigning for a March 14 general election which Aznar's rightwing Popular Party (PP) had been set to win under leader Mariano Rajoy, Aznar having long before decided not to seek a third term in office.

The government's insistence that the bombings were the work of ETA, even as evidence emerged fingering Islamic extremists angered by Aznar's decision to back the US-led war in Iraq, culminated in a surprise Socialist Party (PSOE) victory.

Some voters appeared to have changed sides, considering that the PP, by blaming ETA, had attempted to mislead the public in the aftermath of the attacks on four commuter trains.

Aznar and his party have insisted all along that there is a connection of some kind between different terrorist groups, including between the Al-Qaeda affiliates who claimed responsibility for 11 March and ETA.

"Today this (is) an irrefutable fact," Aznar insisted, regarding such links.

"Let's get to the truth," he added, having first offered condolences to the victims' "sacrifice and pain."

He insisted that in the hours following the blasts the government did all it could to pass on information to the electorate "rapidly and efficiently," and said its intelligence services had carried out "admirable" work in investigating the blasts.

"I don't believe in spontaneous demonstrations," he added, referring to the
demonstrations outside PP headquarters two days after the blasts.

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