Spain's Role in 9/11

The Spanish are about to go to trial against a number of those accused of playing a role in the attacks from Spain.

Don't remember the Spanish part of the story? The article lays it out, at least the part we now know:

More than 43 months after the hijackings, considerable gaps remain in investigators' understanding of how the plot was carried out. One concerns a 12-day period in July 2001 after the lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, flew from Florida to Spain for a meeting with Ramzi Binalshibh, a key conspirator and friend of Atta's from Germany.

U.S. and European officials have concluded that the meeting was called to set a date for the hijackings and was prompted by al Qaeda's founder, Osama bin Laden, who was growing impatient with the pace of preparations.

In recently filed court papers, Spanish prosecutors said they had new evidence that Atta and Binalshibh met in the coastal town of Tarragona on July 16, 2001, with Mohamed Belfatmi, an Algerian, to discuss final arrangements for the hijackings.

The meeting, according to the court documents, was organized by Belfatmi and three other al Qaeda members in Spain who also knew about the plot. But for five of the 12 days Atta and Binalshibh were in Spain, investigators have no idea where the pair were or what they were doing.

The Spanish were able to move quickly (unfortunately, like the Germans, after the attacks) because they began to realize they had a problem before the attacks.

In 1996, five years before al Qaeda grabbed the world's attention with the Sept. 11 attacks, Spanish authorities opened a major investigation into the emerging presence of Islamic radicals on their soil. (My emph.)

Of course 1996 was along two years before al Queda grabbed the world's attention -- I think the embassy bombings were attention grabbing enough. And, by the way, don't forget the Cole.

And when they looked, they found. But they didn't realize the significance of some of what they were seeing until after 9/11.

Led by Baltasar Garzon, an investigative magistrate in Madrid known for his attempted prosecution of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and other notable cases, Spanish officials uncovered a network of religious extremists that raised money and found recruits to fight in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Several members were kept under surveillance, but none was arrested until November 2001, when investigators realized that al Qaeda had used Spain as a staging ground for the attacks in the United States. (My emph.)

And to give you a sense of the fluidity of this cancer across borders, the Spanish arm of the cell was in tight contact with the German part.

According to a superseding indictment filed in February, Yarkas and three other suspects "gave logistical support as well as protection" to Atta and Binalshibh when the two conspirators flew to Spain in July 2001. Prosecutors allege that Yarkas was in repeated phone contact with the Algerian al Qaeda member who was present at the July 16 meeting between Atta and Binalshibh, and that Yarkas's phone number was found in an apartment in Germany used by the Hamburg cell.

Spanish prosecutors have collected other bits of evidence that al Qaeda drew more support from their country than previously believed. Two suspects, for instance, are accused of providing a stolen Spanish passport to Binalshibh before his trip to Tarragona, an indication that ties between the Hamburg cell and the Spanish network were long-standing.

Another key piece of evidence will be a collection of videotapes showing the World Trade Center, the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and other U.S. landmarks. The videos were recorded in 1997 by one of the defendants, Ghasoub Abrash Ghayoun, who told investigators he was filming on behalf of an architect friend in Madrid. The friend later said he knew nothing about the tapes.

What other location is especially tied to this group? No surprise: London, and also no surprise, an imam we've heard of before: abu Qatada.

Most of the accused Syrians are middle-aged businessmen with worldwide contacts, both in commercial and radical Islamic circles. Yarkas traveled to London on 20 occasions to meet with a leading radical imam and al Qaeda sympathizer known as Abu Qatada, according to Spanish court records. (My emph.)

By the way, the Post could have done better than simply identify him as a "leading radical imam" or "al Queda sympathizer." At the time of his arrest by the Brits, he was known as Osama's "ambassador," and "Britain's most wanted man." When he was later released it didn't earn Britain great press over here. Calling him merely a "radical" and a "sympathizer" would seem to be a rehabilitation of his image.

Comments

[Courtney Gidts]

I've managed to save up roughly $48154 in my bank account, but I'm not sure if I should buy a house or not. Do you think the market is stable or do you think that home prices will decrease by a lot?