Madrid, informants, and the U.S. election

The Madrid bombing attack of March 11 may impact our own elections in a significant way.

To recap: Spain's Bush-allied ruling party was ousted in the wake of the attacks. Conservative pundits offer this turn of events as proof that Al Qaeda hopes to install left-leaning governments in the West. In fact, Aznar's government fell because the Spanish people despised the Iraq war, because the Socialist opposition has a tough-on-terror rep, and because Aznar lied his head off when he blamed the attacks on Basque separatists.

Nevertheless, any new attack in America will be framed in terms of the Osama-votes-for-Kerry scenario -- even though all sensible folks know that such an attack will consolidate support for Bush.

All of the above provides background to the latest revelation that some of the Madrid suspects were police informants.

Previously, one of the few writers making note of this oddity was Webster Griffin Tarpley -- whom I hesitate to cite, since he is associated with the dreadful LaRouche cult. Tarpley's thesis, for what it is worth, can be found here. He considers the Madrid blasts prequel to an alleged forthcoming attack in the United States. Tarpley notes that Aznar met with U.S. officials during a cross-country American holiday last May:

During his visit to California, Aznar referred more than once about a terrorist attack taking place in the United States in June, 2004, which would lead to a Federal Emergency Management Agency takeover of the U.S. (International Herald Tribune, May 15, 16, 17, Los Angeles Times, May 15)

Obviously, our cautious attitude toward Tarpley should not impede us from heeding the IHT and the LA Times, sources few consider off-the-wall.

Of the Madrid blasts:

An important sidelight on these statements by Aznar is the revelation that the group accused of carrying out the Madrid bombings was thoroughly penetrated by the Spanish police, who had at least informants within that group, according to El Mundo of May 6, 2004. El Mundo reported that among the people arrested for the Madrid bombing, were two police informants.

This paper published an exclusive report given by Rafa Zhueri, who was among those arrested after the March 11 terror bombings. Zhueri revealed that he worked for years as police informant for a part of the Spanish Civil Guard (UCO Undidad Central Operativa). The article is headlined "I informed the Civil Guard that an Austrian offered me dynamite."

Again, our attitude toward Tarpley should not color our attitude toward the source he quotes. El Mundo is a more-or-less respectable journal, although it has a strong anti-Socialist bias. That bias, of course, serves only to add to the credibility of its interview with Zhueri.

I've searched the net for further information about this man, only to come up goose eggs. However, the accusation that the Madrid bombers worked for the Spanish cops has been buttressed by subsequent pieces. From the June 10 Expatica:

MADRID - The Commission investigating the events surrounding the 11 March terrorist attacks is to examine the relationship between police and some of the suspects, it emerged Thursday.

It is considering asking a police inspector who used three of the suspects as informers to appear before the commission.

Manuel García Rodríguez is a police inspector in Aviles in Asturias, northern Spain...

The Spanish daily El Mundo claimed Thursday three suspects had a relationship with Garcia before and after the bombings...

The suspects allegedly made calls to the police officer and the Islamic radical from the same telephone box just outside the police station in Aviles, the paper reported.

Joan Puig, a spokesman for the left-wing Catalan nationalist party ERC who will sit on the commission, said the allegations were "surreal".

What can I say, Joan? We live in surreal times.

Obviously, terrorists planning such an event would go out of their way to avoid the cops, not to befriend them.

Unless...unless...

The story I am about to tell you, if you have never heard it before, will sound like a crackpot's nightmare. It is, in fact, history -- a conspiracy theory that turned out to be on based on hard reality, as established by official investigations. All politically- aware people in Europe know the details, although most Americans refuse to be educated on this topic.

In the 1970s, Italy was assailed by what has been called the "strategy of tension." Right-wing political forces found their positions strengthened by horrifying terrorist incidents blamed, at the time, on left-wing terrorists. The Italians later learned that these atrocities (which included the bombing of a train station in Bologna) were actually carried out by undercover operatives of the Italian secret service SISMI. "Infiltration" of leftist groups became the excuse for a disguised attack.

Masterminding this effort was the Propaganda Due (P2) lodge, a pseudo-Masonic cabal run by the fascist Licio Gelli. Membership included many SISMI officers as well as leaders of the Italian business and political establishments.

P2 had American links. Indeed, it has been widely reported that Gelli attended Ronald Reagan's first inauguration. Many sources aver that Michael Ledeen joined P2. Ledeen, as you probably know, is now a staunchly pro-Israel, anti-Iran neoconservative who continues to back Ahmad Chalabi.

All of which may cause some to ask if history has repeated itself. Spain is not so very distant from Italy.

The revelation that the accused terrorists functioned as police informants tends to buttress the "provocation" thesis. But don't jump to conclusions just yet. One basic fact works against the idea: The Madrid attabenefitedted the Socialists, in large part because Aznar blamed ETA. Why would he do such a thing if the bombings were an exercise in bloody theatrics?

Unless...unless...

Perhaps neoconservative forces wanted the Socialists to win in Spain, in order to buttress the loudly-touted myth that Osama hopes his next strike will unseat Bush in favor of Kerry?

Nah. Can't be. Some scenarios are too paranoid even for me.