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Europe
ETA May Be Behind Four Bombs in Spain
2005-07-12
Four bombs exploded Tuesday near a power plant in the Basque region after a warning call from the separatist group ETA, but there were no casualties, news reports said. The blasts occurred in the town of Amorebieta in Vizcaya province, Spanish National Radio said. ETA called a Basque newspaper and warned that four bombs would go off at the power plant, the news agency Efe said. Workers at the plant were evacuated before the explosions, Efe said, quoting witnesses as saying the blasts were small.
It's them or the turbans. Nobody else booms Spain.
Posted by:Steve

#8  Participation in the ISAF under NATO doesn't prove that Spain is a loyal US ally in the WOT...
What were you trying to say, Lib hawkster?
That Spain didn't cave to Islamist terrorism after the Madrid bombings?
This story proves that they did, which is why it was posted.
José Aznar's biggest mistake that cost him the election was blaming ETA for the Madrid bombings, when it was AQ and Zapatero's platform was based on Spanish withdrawal from the Iraq Coalition.
As it turns out, Spain got a crappy Socialist (Zappy) as head of their government and is still a target for both ETA and AQ.
If Zapatero could get Spain out of the NATO committment he would, too.
BTW, the "link" wasn't from Free Republic unless it was posted by a commenter.
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro   2005-07-12 19:25  

#7  Hat tip, free republic. An odd combo of sources, but so?

MADRID, June 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The Spanish government plans to send a new contingent of 500 troops to Afghanistan to reinforce security in the country's September parliamentary elections, Defense Minister Jose Bono said Tuesday.

Bono told reporters that he will request Congress on Wednesday to assess the possibility of sending more troops.

Spain has already deployed 540 soldiers in Afghanistan. As part of the NATO troops in the Asian country, the Spanish forces are in Herat and Qala-i-Naw, both in western Afghanistan.

Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-07-12 17:36  

#6  there are a number of references to Spain taking over the PRT at Herat, with 375 troops, plus other facilities elsewhere, on the ISAF site, which is linked to from the US DoD site. I cant seem to find the article that said it was 500 troops, and additional to the 551. Sorry.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-07-12 17:26  

#5  heres the source for the 551 who were there in Feb of this year

http://www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/040628-factsheet.htm
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-07-12 17:18  

#4  Link, please, Lib"hawk", for where you're getting that info.
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro   2005-07-12 17:10  

#3  as info, theyre adding another 500 Spanish troops to ISAF, in addition to the 500 already in Afghanistan.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-07-12 14:42  

#2  Spain was a loyal ally until Zappers was elected after 3-11. Many Spaniards do possess cojones -- they invented the term, remember.

Their problem is that a sizable portion of their society traded their balls in as too heavy to lug around. But they're volatile folk, and if the Islamists push their luck, which they've a habit of doing, it's also possible Don Juan'll take his courage out of cold storage.
Posted by: Fred   2005-07-12 13:30  

#1  It's them or the turbans. Nobody else booms Spain. cares.
Posted by: N guard   2005-07-12 11:40  

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