Agricola,
Ah, yes, a 25kg bomb is certainly EXACTLY the same as 10 44kg bombs on 4 separate trains and what, 2 train stations (I'm getting confused reports on the exactly number of trains and stations).
Shows the same tactics, same level of planning, same level of coordination, same level of communication, etc. I'm thinking that it even shows that ETA is using cloning techniques to recreate themselves so that they can pass their knowledge along.
I guess also, by virtue of the fact that a it was a bomb and a train means that ETA is actually responsible for carrying out every bombing incident in Europe since 1959, including those attributed to the IRA?
Who'da thunk it?
Wow, maybe ETA even bombed the Murragh building in Oklahoma City?
It's also funny that a number of international terrorism experts who have been interviewed for a number of news sources also feel that this attack is not typical of an ETA attack. But, then again, what do they know?
Let's take a look at the clues and precedents:
1. Similar material to other ETA attacks. Not conclusive. Roughly 4 types of plastic explosive (if this was plastic explosive) have been used in nearly 90% of all bombs of that type over the last 10 years. Those explosives are readily available in massive quantities virtually anywhere in the world to anyone with the cash.
2. Not suicide bombings, but used remote control devices. Not conclusive. There have been many car bombs detonated in the Arab world, particularly in Israel, that have not been suicide bombings. More than a few have used remote detonation devices designed. As I noted, the first attack on the World Trade Center was NOT a suicide attack, yet it was carried out by Islamic fundamentalists.
3. ETA has tried to blow up trains before. Not conclusive. ETA isn't the only group that has tried, and suceeded, in detonating bombs on trains before.
But tell me, Agricola, given the massive confusion that's still surrounding this event and the lack of cohesive information that's come out of the Spanish investigators to this point, on what basis do you OR the Spanish claim that this wasn't a suicide bombing attack?
The fact that no one saw anyone wearing a towel on their head, running through the train ululating about Allah before disappearing in a blinding flash?
And, given that Arab extremists have shown that they're willing NOT to die for their God when setting bombs, what would make you automatically rule out Islamacists?
Seems like your operating on some kind of... ignorance here.
OK, I have personal reasons to take a deep interest in ETA, and have studied all that I can find about them for the past several years. Does that make me an expert on them and their operations? No, no one is truly an expert on how ETA operates, because no one has ever gotten inside their organization.
But I also think I have a pretty good feel for ETA and its campaign of violence, and the actions that they've taken.
All the while that you've been putting words in my mouth and acribing to me feelings about ETA that I've never had nor exhibited, you're missing the salient point -- that this entire scenario to this point hasn't followed ETA's established patterns and practices that they've used for 40 years.
There are three possible explanations for that.
1. It's a new cadre of people at the head of ETA who have expanded the organization. Seems unlikely.
2. It's a group that wants to pin blame on ETA. Again, seems unlikely.
3. It wasn't ETA.
To me, the answer is obvious. This was not an ETA act.
It's now what, nearly 36 hours after the bombings, and still no ETA claim of responsibility. In fact, no other group around the world has claimed responsibility for this action, other than guess who?
Now, we DO have this comment from the BBC's article, something that I've been saying...
"If Eta was responsible, analysts say, the simultaneous attacks mark an unprecedented increase in scale, ruthlessness and co-ordination.
Yep, scale and coordination is different from other ETA attacks in the past. Gee, isn't that what I originally said that made you come down on me like a ton of stale scones, accusing me of being dismissive of ETA and its capabilities?
Let's see... Here's the line from my first message on this...
"Also, if all of what we're seeing about this (10 backpack bombs exploding simultaneously) it's too large and well organized for ETA."
Large... Hum, could that be scale?
And well organized... That certainly smacks of co-ordination.
And the BBC article also had this to say...
"And intelligence analyst Glenmore Trenear-Harvey, interviewed by BBC News 24, said the group would have found it difficult to stage such a co-ordinated effort, given the level of surveillance to which the remaining Eta members are subjected by the Spanish intelligence service."
With a name like that, that gentleman HAS to be British. You've got some phone calls to make, it looks like. You need to soundly castigate this man for even thinking for a moment that ETA couldn't throw off the oppressive shackles of Spanish dominion to lash out decisively in their quest for a home land.
Looks like you should be coming down on the BBC, lad. They've just called the ETA jokes! Get to it!