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HollywoodLiberal Donating Member (29 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:28 PM
Original message
Spain: More al Qaeda links found
Edited on Mon Mar-15-04 06:05 PM by HollywoodLiberal
CNN claims to have a document from Al Queda to place Socialists in power..

Monday, March 15, 2004 Posted: 5:04 PM

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- One of the five men arrested in connection with the deadly Madrid train bombings has links to the plotters of an al Qaeda-linked bombing in Casablanca last year, CNN has learned.

CNN also has obtained an al Qaeda document that spells out the terrorist group's plan to separate Spain from the U.S.-led coalition on Iraq.

The strategy spelled out in the document, posted last December on the Internet, calls for using terrorist attacks to drive Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's Partido Popular from power and replace it with the Socialists.


That was expected to drive a wedge between Washington and Madrid and result in the withdrawal of Spanish military forces from Iraq.

"We think the Spanish government will not stand more than two blows, or three at the most, before it will be forced to withdraw because of the public pressure on it," the al Qaeda document says.

"If its forces remain after these blows, the victory of the Socialist Party will be almost guaranteed -- and the withdrawal of Spanish forces will be on its campaign manifesto."

That prediction came to fruition in elections Sunday, with the Socialists unseating the Popular Party three days after near-simultaneous bombings of four trains killed 200 and shocked the nation.


http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/03/15/spain.invest/index.html

Haha. They think this will make people go "the answer is to elect the right wingers?"

Nonsense. There's only one lesson here for BushCo. The fastest way to eliminate terrorism is to elect socialism.

Does anyone believe this nonsense? Isn't this prety much proof that BushCo and Rummy were behind the bombings?
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hatrack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:29 PM
Response to Original message
1. Do they really think people are that stupid?
Then again, it's CNN - what else could you possibly expect?
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0007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #1
49. CNN is the White House's hot line
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nolabels Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 08:08 PM
Response to Reply #49
51. Powell keeps on forgeting to read memo about the hotline too
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DuctapeFatwa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. ROFLMAO (nt)
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qanda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:32 PM
Response to Original message
3. Oh, please spare me!
This is the biggest crock of bull I've ever heard.
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newyorican Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:32 PM
Response to Original message
4. BWA-HAHAHAHA
Sour Sangria...
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NYC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:33 PM
Response to Original message
5. I do like the conclusion you drew.
"There's only one lesson here for BushCo. The fastest way to eliminate terrorism is to elect socialism."
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Spazito Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:33 PM
Response to Original message
6. Wow, written by the same person as the Niger document!
What a coincidence! How much more pathetic can CNN become!
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ewagner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
7. Heard the same report on NPR
around 1:30 Central time. Apparently the memo/letter was intercepted by a Dutch(?) intelligence source. Which begs the question: If that was in their hands in September why wasn't Spanish intelligence made aware of it?

None of the above does anything to discount the possibility that the letter/memo was a fraud to begin with.
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Coventina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
8. Spin has officially reached tornado force!
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Just Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
9. OMG!!! What an incredible coincidence!!!
Geez. This is so freakin' silly. I definitely have a helluva lot more respect for the intelligence of the American people than these elitists.
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robcon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
10. I disagree totally with your conclusions.
You wrote "...Haha. They think this will make people go "the answer is to elect the right wingers?"

The answer isn't to elect right-wingers. It is to take a firm stand, including military power, against terrorists.

"...Nonsense. There's only one lesson here for BushCo. The fastest way to eliminate terrorism is to elect socialism.

How does socialism eliminate terrorism? Where did you get that connection? What terrorism has been eliminated?

"...Does anyone believe this nonsense? Isn't this pretty much proof that BushCo and Rummy were behind the bombings?"

If that is your standard of "proof" I've got a few black helicopters to sell you.
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HollywoodLiberal Donating Member (29 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:40 PM
Original message
To answer your questions...
"The answer isn't to elect right-wingers. It is to take a firm stand, including military power, against terrorists."
Why engage these guys at all? They wouldn't attack us if we stopped murdering them.

"How does socialism eliminate terrorism? Where did you get that connection? What terrorism has been eliminated?" Spain could be safer with a socialist government because they mind their own business and tend to the needs of their OWN people.

"If that is your standard of "proof" I've got a few black helicopters to sell you." You can't admit that it seems pretty obvious that BushCo would try and spin this crap into something political with their fake evidence and B.S. terrorist scares?
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fishnfla Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:41 PM
Response to Reply #10
20. with you
this is twisted.
the terrorists are the enemy. they could give 2 fucks about the socialists.
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donco6 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
11. The Spaniards I know HATED Asnar well
before the bombings.
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jpgray Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:35 PM
Response to Original message
12. Yeah, they were flying that night. :-) (nt)
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Cessna Invesco Palin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:36 PM
Response to Original message
13. To all who say this is bull...
I'm curious as to what your rationale is for why this was done three days before the election, if not to affect the outcome of the election?
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Pathwalker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:40 PM
Response to Reply #13
19. Oh, I don't know...maybe because it was also 911 days
AFTER 9/11/01??????
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rinsd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 07:06 PM
Response to Reply #19
46. Wrong about 911 days
It was actually 912. Don't forget the leap year.
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w4rma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:52 PM
Response to Reply #13
27. It's my understanding that the socialists were leading in the polls before
the attacks. If anything the attacks were to sway the polls back to the so-called "strong on terror" right-wing party, imho.

I'm looking for an AP article right now that was posted here which states Bush administration officials speculating after the attacks that Anzar's political party would win because of the attacks. I'll update this post when I track it down.
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rinsd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 07:05 PM
Response to Reply #27
45. Not correct...
I believe Aznar's party had a slight lead before the bombings.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4535595/

"Spanish anger at Aznar's government—which polled ahead of the Socialists before last week's attack—seems to have been inflamed by divisions over who is behind the blasts. "

Though in Madrid the Socialist Party was indeed popular.
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54anickel Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 08:03 PM
Response to Reply #45
50. Wonder what that slight lead was. Anyone have the poll numbers?
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markses Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:31 PM
Response to Reply #13
39. It was obviously meant to effect the election. HOWEVER
that doesn't mean that it was meant to propel the Socialists into power. In fact, such a conclusion bucks all precedent. All Westernized countries have turned hard right in the immediate aftermath of a large-scale terrorist attack. Why would anyone think that the population would turn LEFT??? It makes no sense.
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Cessna Invesco Palin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:42 PM
Response to Reply #39
42. possible, maybe even probable
>It was obviously meant to effect the election

Right. I don't necessarily think this was the intended outcome, but it just seems too perfect, 3 days before the election, for it to have been for any other reason. I have no argument with anyone who thinks it was designed to help the conservatives. That was my first intuition. However, I don't know that much about Spanish politics, and the situation today is really unprecedented in modern history. And lord knows that the Iraq war didn't help Blair any.

My argument is with the people who seem to be denying that terrorists blew up some trains, because of their disagreement with some stupid bloody fake document on CNN.
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ithacan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 07:10 PM
Response to Reply #13
47. rumors are that
the conservatives were behind the bombing, or knew it was going to happend, and let it happen, thinking it would give them a boost, but it backfired. A kind of LIHOP scenario.
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Cessna Invesco Palin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-16-04 04:18 PM
Response to Reply #47
52. idiotic
ithacan, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. There's no evidence of this whatsoever, and furthermore it doesn't make any sense.
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dai Donating Member (129 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:36 PM
Response to Original message
14. The last straw!

That's it! Officially I'm convinced Al Qaeda doesn't exist.

Every right-wing talking point gets "confirmed", suspiciously near-verbatim, by Al Qaeda "documents"...which nobody ever sees, mind you.

Attacks on Iraq's Shia? *poof* Al Qaeda document found calling for attacks on Shia. Socialists win in Spain? *poof* AQ documents planning for a socialist victory. Come October, we'll hear about an Al Qaeda "document" praying for a democrat victory or some such.
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arcane1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:39 PM
Response to Reply #14
17. al Qaeda is the BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED to Bush!
he is the ONLY ONE who gained anything from 9/11, and now with the LIHOP in Spain....
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Cessna Invesco Palin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:34 PM
Response to Reply #14
40. some explosive docs!
>That's it! Officially I'm convinced Al Qaeda doesn't exist.

>Every right-wing talking point gets "confirmed",
>suspiciously near-verbatim, by Al Qaeda "documents"...
>which nobody ever sees, mind you.

Yes, but documents didn't blow up the trains, so then the question becomes...who?
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w4rma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:39 PM
Response to Original message
15. An anonymous message on an internet message board. Good grief. (n/t)
Edited on Mon Mar-15-04 05:40 PM by w4rma
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DoYouEverWonder Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #15
33. Looks like Jeremy Reynalds is spewing
his terrorist fantasies again. Funny, he's been quiet for a while and then as soon as something happens his buddy self-proclaimed al Qaeda operative Daleel Almojahid shows up again. How, convienent.

Al Qaida "Operative" Says Ignoring Terrorist Demands Produced Spain's Train Massacre by Jeremy Reynalds

03-13-04
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:39 PM
Response to Original message
16. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
Old and In the Way Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:40 PM
Response to Original message
18. Those crazy Al-Qaeda....alway's sharing their operational strategy
with CNN.

Or is this like Karl Rov telling us that he feared Dean the most in the GE campaign?
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Devils Advocate NZ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:42 PM
Response to Original message
21. This is a BAD MOVE by the spin meisters...
Considering the Spanish people believe they were attacked because of their participation in the Iraq war, and considering this led to a Socialist victory, and that a Socialist victory is what Al Qaeda wanted, does that mean that the attack on Iraq actually resulted in the first major defeat for the "coalition of the willing"?

Is Iraq causing the coalition to lose the war on terrorism?
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Just Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:52 PM
Response to Reply #21
28. Yeah, the spinning is obvious and insulting.
Hopefully, something more accurate will be revealed. The citizens of Spain were courageous enough to refuse to be ruled by fear-wielding, war-mongers; including right-wing radicals (communists), neoconspiracists (*smile*) and the al Qaeda and Wahabbis and other extremist holy rollers. The "Socialist" spin is ridiculous.
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FlemingsGhost Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:44 PM
Response to Original message
22. They're desperate now... enjoy the show, folks.
Methinks the glorious New American Century is gonna fall 96 years short Osama or WMD won't be enough to restore the luster.

"Get the gun, Ma. The darned horse has gone lame"

Say goodnight, dubya...
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mouse7 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:45 PM
Response to Original message
23. CNN doc written in crayon on "Rangers Baseball" letterhead
Edited on Mon Mar-15-04 05:49 PM by mouse7
Uhhhhh.... sure.

Remember the supposed passport of the 9/11 hijacker that survived the inferno of the crash and and the WTC tower collapses to land on the ground in pristine condition on a NYC street?
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tandot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:47 PM
Response to Original message
24. yea sure
CNN probably got it from a McLellan press release
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74dodgedart Donating Member (513 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:48 PM
Response to Original message
25. The real issue is...
If *'s war on terrorism has been so effective, how come Al-Qaeda was able to pull of such an effective large-scale operation ?

Everything else is just spin...
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jmcgowanjm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:50 PM
Response to Original message
26. Bologna Train bombing1980/AZF-CIA founded AlQaeda
Operation Gladio

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA%20Hits/Gladio_CIAHits.html

CIA meets w/ OBL DubaiAmerican hospital-July01-
LeFigaro

This terrorist attack in Madrid, carried out by the terrorist
arm of the CIA, is a good trial balloon for future
operations. Pending its political, social and international
results, attacks like this could possibly extend to other
European cities, particularly London and Paris, and they
may even take place in the USA... again.

http://www.jackblood.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/madridstrategicinterest.htm

Name one terror attack/assassination that didn't
result in a lurch to the Right-Madrid2004
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jmcgowanjm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #26
32. Washington gave a thinly-veiled warning to Spain
and other European countries yesterday that to waver in the fight against global terrorism would lead to catastrophe.

With anxiety growing that Spain's victorious Socialists might deal a wounding blow to America's coalition...

Watch how fast Cheney, Rummy, Rove move
when they want to.

And remember that we still don't know who or what
did 911.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/15/wspan15.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/15/ixnewstop.html

And this was the reason the Frankfurt DAX
collapsed.
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renegade000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:54 PM
Response to Original message
29. NO! democracy must be unduly influenced in OUR favor!
eom
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Moderator DU Moderator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 05:55 PM
Response to Original message
30. Hollywoord Liberal - Fix Your Thread Title
See LBN rules regarding thread titles.
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HollywoodLiberal Donating Member (29 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:03 PM
Response to Reply #30
31. Can you help me
Edited on Mon Mar-15-04 06:05 PM by HollywoodLiberal
nm, I think I fixed it.
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fedsron2us Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:14 PM
Response to Original message
34. Yet another 'Al Qaeda' document
Edited on Mon Mar-15-04 06:15 PM by fedsron2us
Presumably it was easily recognizable because it bore the organizations logo and was personally signed by Osama Lin Laden himself. Given that Islamic terrorist groups are kind enough to detail their intentions and tactics for all to read on the internet one must wonder why American and European intelligence agencies were not able to prevent last weeks outrage.

I am afraid that old Bob Dylan lyric keeps playing in my head these days -

" You don't have to be a weatherman to see which way the wind blows "

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Capt_Nemo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:16 PM
Response to Original message
35. Yeah, just like the Niger forgeries and the Galloway papers
CNN is working hard with the neo-cons in getting the US as the most
hated nation in Spain. I say: keep it up!
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rocktivity Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:24 PM
Response to Original message
36. You can't tell the links without a scorecard
One of the five men arrested in connection with the deadly Madrid train bombings has links to the plotters of an al Qaeda-linked bombing in Casablanca last year, CNN has learned.
Let me guess: the suspect's dentist's neighbor's therapist's lover's sister's teacher's father's excorcist's brother-in-law's dog groomer once held a door open for the plotter's dog groomer's brother-in-law's exorcist's father's teacher's sister's lover's therapist's neighbor's dentist.

The strategy spelled out in the document, posted last December on the Internet, calls for using terrorist attacks to drive Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's Partido Popular from power and replace it with the Socialists.
Are they this desparate to take the focus off the power of the people? Or is Al Qaeda so stupid they didn't realize that all they had to do was let nature take its course?

:headbang:
rocknation
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arcane1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:26 PM
Response to Reply #36
37. no kidding, we don't hear much about all those people in the streets
right before the election

I guess they are all terra-ists too....
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The Stranger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:28 PM
Response to Original message
38. Al Queda is backing the Socialist Party in Spain?
. . . then it got weird.
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Robb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 07:48 PM
Response to Reply #38
48. LOL!
(spit-take) :D :thumbsup:
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NV1962 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:35 PM
Response to Original message
41. CORRECTION: CNN obtained it from a *message board* posted in December!!!
CNN also has obtained a document posted on an Internet message board analysts believe is used by al Qaeda and its sympathizers that spells out the terrorist group's plan to separate Spain from the U.S.-led coalition on Iraq.

(my bold)

They edited the text of that article, apparently.

Good grief... Didn't think CNN could sink that deep into its own misery. Pathetic.
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nolabels Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:49 PM
Response to Reply #41
43. Got to make news some way, for heavens sake they couldn't do real news
:shrug:
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HollywoodLiberal Donating Member (29 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-15-04 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #41
44. Hah, stealth edit by CNN
I think they may have spotted some of the uproar at the absurdity of it all.
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deportivoI Donating Member (51 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-16-04 04:23 PM
Response to Original message
53. This is WH
Nonsense. Not a clue about Spanish Politics. Aznar Lied, Aznar tried to manipulate the Elections. This is what made Spaniards angry. Nothing to do with US or Iraq. Socialists have never been soft of terrorism when they were in power for almost 10 years.
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