Who Dunnit?
‘IT says something grim about the world today that when 190 people are murdered by terrorists and 12,250 injured, many horrifically, the papers do not know whom to blame.
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| Who could do such a thing? |
Its not that there is any shortage of candidates – editors are scratching their heads not in trying to think of anyone or any group capable of such a thing, but rather because the list of suspects comes too easily to mind.
The Guardian puts this in simple terms, leading with the numbers and the question: ETA Or al-Qaeda?
The papers pictures of the dead, bloodied and maimed are a truly awful sight.
The victims of ten bombs (three more failed to go off) on Madrids railways that ripped carriages apart like cans of tuna, creating a platform of death, are everywhere.
This massacre in Madrid is almost too awful to take in, a mass killing that came without warning in one of Europes premier capital cities, on Britains doorstep.
Seeking something to cling onto in this maelstrom of uncertainty and confusion, the Guardian lists some facts about ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), the Basque separatists.
The Telegraph says that in the blasts immediate aftermath, the Spanish government did not hesitate to point the finger of blame at the group.
But looking at ETAs track record, al-Qaeda seems the more likely culprit. Indeed, the paper reports that a voice claiming to represent al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility.
The Telegraph also says that Spanish police found an Arabic-language tape and detonators in a stolen van in a Madrid suburb.
ETA has even issued a denial. The spokesman for ETAs political wing, Arnaldo Otegi, says: The independent Basque Left cannot imagine there is even a hypothetical chance that ETA could be behind what happened in Madrid.
Well, imagine it they must. Because in such times, minds whirl, and they invariably ask: Who did it? And who will be next?’
Posted: 12th, March 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
