Zapatero insists government strong against terror

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, testifying before a parliamentary commission investigating Spain’s worst terrorist attack, dismissed any link between his surprise election victory last March and the Madrid train bombings three days earlier.

“Terror struck our country north to south, east to west,” he said in his opening remarks. “It’s clear that the bombs had an effect,” killing 191 passengers and injuring more than 1,500.

But he said it was unacceptable to imply, as some critics have done, that the Socialists unseated the conservative Popular Party at least partly because of the bombings, attributed to Islamic militants who apparently timed the attack to influence the election.

The conservatives endorsed last year’s US-led invasion of Iraq and sent 1,300 troops to the occupation. Zapatero, who opposed the war, immediately withdrew those troops following his March 14 election win.

“It’s unacceptable to add” to Spain’s suffering “the infamy of classifying as cowardly a valiant people,” he said. “No Spanish government has kneeled to terrorism and none will.”

Zapatero’s opening remarks lasted more than half an hour. Questioning from the 16-member commission, comprised of all groups in parliament, could last all day, as was the case two weeks ago when former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar testified.

The commission is focusing on the political context of the attack, for example, whether security forces could have predicted and prevented it; whether perpetrators were being identified, arrested and prosecuted, and whether national defences were being strengthened against a possible subsequent attack.

The conservatives intended to question Zapatero about allegations that his Socialist party helped instigate protest rallies the night before national elections in order to reap political capital from the attack.

Cell phone text messages convening protest rallies brought thousands of angry demonstrators outside Popular Party offices in Madrid and other cities. They accused Aznar’s pro-US government of making Spain a target for al Qaida by endorsing the Iraq invasion.

Under Spanish law, political rallies are banned the day before an election. The Socialist government has repeatedly denied any involvement in the demonstrations, which it said were spontaneous outpourings of anger and grief.

“We all know there were Socialist party members, people with responsibilities in government bodies, that convened people with cell phone messages,” said the Popular Party’s losing candidate for prime minister Mariano Rajoy. “We know their first names and their last names.”

Zapatero is the first Spanish prime minister to testify before a parliamentary commission of inquiry.

The 16-member panel began its work in July and has heard from more than 50 former police and government officials on how the government handled the attacks and what warnings it had that Spain might be a target for Muslim militants.

The commission is scheduled to conclude with testimony later this week from a representative of an association of March 11 victims, then write a final report.