http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=11&u=/ap/20040727/ap_on_re_eu/spain_bombing_inquiry_2 "MADRID, Spain - [size=-1]A Moroccan who was one of the prime suspects in the Madrid train bombings once told a police informant that he wanted to blow up Madrid's biggest soccer stadium because "Spain needed a lesson," a paramilitary officer testified to a parliamentary commission on Tuesday. [/size] [size=-1]A Civil Guard officer identified only as Agent Victor said that on March 16, shortly after the bombings, his Moroccan informant Rafa Zohuier called him to say Jamal Ahmidan had once told him he wanted to blow up the Real Madrid team's Santiago Bernabeu stadium because of Spain's support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites). " [/size]
Weren't they also caught plotting to bomb Liverpool's or MU's stadium? Watch out, with so many animals around it doesn't mean it won't still happen.... However, in our case there is a solution. All we have to do is build the morroccians a stadium bigger than the Bernabeu by the M-30....
When former Prime Minister Aznar was propagating the ETA "speculation" following the train bombings in Madrid, a couple of the articles I read referenced the car bombing outside the Bernabeu two years before. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200205/02/eng20020502_95070.shtml http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/05/02/spain.bombs/?related
It could easily be more than just "speculation". If I was ETA, I would have let somebody put the bombs and then "enjoy" the view. The Bernabeu must have been considered as a top 3 target in Madrid, lots of people, lots of damage, and a hit to the "flagship" of Spanish "imperialism" in and out of Spain. Of course, blowing off an entire major train station in rush hour (as intended, it wasn't just the trains, didn't work), looked better, since it would have created a chaos in the entire city for many months. At the Bernabeu you could only kill people, not make it go down. Anyway, let's just pray it doesn't happen again, not in Madrid, not anywhere else.
Do you mean the Estadio Calderon? I heard it has a higher UEFA rating than the Bernabeu, but is it actually bigger?
He's talking about the giant mosque (the biggest in Europe?) that can be found near the intersection of the M-30 and Calle Alcala, close to Ventas.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040802fa_fact Here is a very interesting article that just appeared in the New Yorker regarding the connection between Spain, Al-Qaeda and the larger internet jihad war going on. Very interesting, especially for many of the details regarding the Muslim view of Spain as the territory of Al Andalus (familiar ring, maybe???), the land they held for 800 years before they were booted by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492. A word of caution, it is a long read (20-30 mins...depending on how fast you read), but well worth it for it's perspective on Spain, the Madrid bombings, subsequent attacks that have been foiled, and the larger viewpoint of Muslims, especially jihadists, regarding Spain and the western world. Credit to Gringo Tex for posting this on the Politics & Current Events board here on BigSoccer, but I thought it could use an extra link here because of the relevance to this discussion.