This document analyzes the impact of the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings on the subsequent Spanish national elections held on March 14, 2004. It discusses how the incumbent Popular Party's support for the Iraq War and its mishandling of information after the bombings led to its defeat by the opposition Socialist Party. The Socialist Party withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq after winning the election. The document also discusses the memorialization of the 192 victims of the Madrid bombings.

1. Spanish mass media and elections in the face of terrorism Ten keys about 11M Prof. Dr. José Luis González Esteban Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU (Elche-Alicante) Wroclaw, 11 de Marzo de 2005

2. Ten keys about 11M 1st KEY: Iraq War In order to understand the Popular Party defeat (PP/right), in the 14th March 2004 elections, it is necessary to go back beyond 11th March The genesis of Aznar’s electoral disaster must be located on Iraq War A successful economic management and a steady anti-terrorist policy placed the PP with a ten points margin over the Socialist Party, before its direct involvement in Iraqi conflict

3. Ten keys about 11M 1st KEY: Iraq War 92% of citizens show its rejection to Spain’s involvement in Iraq War

4. Ten keys about 11M 1st KEY: Iraq War Iraq War mobilized Spanish society On 15th February 2003, one and half million people demonstrated on Barcelona streets

5. Ten keys about 11M 1st KEY: Iraq War That same day, more than two million people showed their rejection in the crowed demonstration in Madrid

6. Ten keys about 11M 1st KEY: Iraq War Incomprehensibly, José María Aznar’s Government didn’t listen to generalized rejection, including the one from many Popular Pary voters who were aganist War

7. Ten keys about 11M 1st KEY: Iraq War José María Aznar justified his bellicist stance on assumptions that very soon were proved as wrong The first argument was the famous and falses weapons of massive destructions

8. Ten keys about 11M 2nd KEY: Azores’ picture The ratification and staging of José María Aznar’s support to George Bush took place in the famous Azores date, on 16th March 2003 That meeting marked a definitive turn in the Spanish traditional foreign policy In the very Popular Party’s bosom, some critical voices with the strategy of the then President arose Spain distanced from France and Germany, in order to take a stand in the United States-United Kingdom axis

9. Ten keys about 11M 2nd KEY: Azore’s picture Blair, Bush y Aznar in Azores (Portugal) Spain became Al Qaeda target, what has been confirmed in the judiciary inquiry currently being carried out by judge Del Olmo

10. Ten keys about 11M 3rd KEY: Casablanca attack On 16th may 2003. Al Qaeda kills 45 people in Casa de España (Spanish House) in Casablanca (Morocco)

11. Ten keys about 11M 3rd KEY: Casablanca attack Spanish government denied any link between Spain’s involvement in Iraq War and Casablanca killing Judiciary inquiry has later determined a DIRECT LINK

12. Ten keys about 11M 4th KEY: First Spanish deaths On 30th November 2003, seven Spanish secret agents underwent an ambush in the outskirts of Baghdad and were killed They are the first Spanish victims in the conflict In the picture, some Iraqis step on the Spanish dead bodies

13. Ten keys about 11M 5th KEY: 9M surveys On Monday 9 March 2005, last intention of vote surveys were published The Iraq War marked the electoral campaign The PP had dilapidated a ten points adventage and two days before the Madrid attack the situation was a technical draw between the Popular Party supports and socialists’ ones

14. Ten keys about 11M 6th KEY: 11M, the infamy day On 11th Marcha 2004, Al Qaeda kills in Madrid 192 people and leave wounded 1500 Most of the victims were young University students, workers and inmigrants It is the wildest terrorist attack ever committed on European land The youngest victim of the killing was a seven months old Polish baby called Patrizia Rzaca. Her father, Wieslaw, also died on the attack. On the whole, four Polish citizens died in Madrid massacre

15. Ten keys about 11M 6th KEY: 11M, the infamy day Twelve terrorists placed fourteen bombs in four trains that went off in the central Atocha Station and other two stations close to Spanish capital

16. Ten keys about 11M 6th KEY: 11M, the infamy day Terror scenes were reproduced in Madrid from 8:00 am That same morning, on 11M, the investigators already managed with certainty Al Qaeda clue, what was reflected as well in the summary being instructed by judge Del Olmo

17. Ten keys about 11M 6th KEY: 11M, the infamy day Given the tightness of surveys, with the dead bodies in the mortuaries and the wonded in hospitals, the political logic showed that an Al Qaeda attack would mean, as it was, a PP defeat Aznar and his collaborators hurried up to build a guilty for the Madrid attack on the very 11M: ETA (Basque terrorist organization) Depending on who were responsible for the attack, so would be the elections winner: ETA gave victory to Popular Party (PP) Al Qaeda to Socialist Party (PSOE)

18. Ten keys about 11M 7th KEY: From 11th to 14th March: information and desinformation In order to reach their goals, the Government focused its strategy of information and desinformation in two fronts: Spanish public television (TVE) Some ambassadors in foreing countries On its side, the Socialist Party had Cadena SER (main radio station in Spain) invaluable assistance, contributing to the definitive attrition of Aznar Government

19. Ten keys about 11M 7th KEY: From 11th to 14th March: information and desinformation In the last Reporteros sin Fronteras report on freedom of press , Spain ranks in the penultimate position in European Union (only before Italy) RSF denounce “the informative manipulation of Government in the previous days to 14M elections” This manipulation, desinformation or intoxication was denounced by the very foreign correspondents In the same way, RSF insists in denouncing the lack of freedom in the practice of journalism profession in the Basque Country

20. Ten keys about 11M 7th KEY: From 11th to 14th March: information and desinformation Evidences about Al Qaeda responsibility were clear. Police investigation indicated so, and the government was perfectly informed To top it all, on 12th March, Israel secret services sources, and the ones from the very CIA, pointed to Al Qaeda That same day, at night, a digital Londoner newspaper spread a note throught which Islamic terrorists assumed responsability In spite of all, the Aznar government trenched in a wrong political and communication strategy that eventually cost the 14M general elections

21. Ten keys about 11M 8th KEY: Who has been? Political tension moved to street. Spanish citizens wanted to vote knowing the truth about the attack authors Spain was mourning. There was a generalized anger and indignation in a citizenship that scremed aloud: WHO HAS BEEN? The whole Spain mobilized, let’s see some examples of some days that became historical:

22. Mobilized students and crepes in all over Spain balconies

23. Minutes in silence, stops in works and notes in Arabic demanding: NEVER AGAIN!

24. The rain didn’t impede that the Spaniards run into the streets on Friday 12th March 2004

25. Politicians and Royal House led Madrid demonstration. The clamour was unanimous: Who has been? From left to right: the former Interior minister Ángel Acebes, Zapatero, Aznar, Prince Felipe and his daughters the infants Elena and Cristina

26. Two million people congregated on Atocha Station surrounding, place of attack

27. Madrid/12M

28. Barcelona/12M

29. Bilbao/12M

30. Sevilla/12M

31. Valencia/12M

32. Zaragoza 12/M

33. Ten keys about 11M 8th KEY: Who has been? Every kind of manipulation and political orientation leaked to the very reflection day The Government kept its strategy of blaming ETA up to Saturday mindnigth On the socialists falls the suspects of promoting a quick campaign of pursuing, coordinated through the cell phones and consisting of mobilizations in front of the Popular Party headquarters all over Spain

34. Ten keys about 11M 9th KEY: 14M, electoral overturning in Spain All the development of referred events became in the polls in a surprising electoral overturning and an electoral landside for socialists

35. Ten keys about 11M 9th KEY: 14M, electoral overturning in Spain The 14M numbers summary is the following: Very high Spanish turn out. 78% turned out, outstanding the mobilization or awekening of young vote Socialist Party went over 11 million votes, 42% getting 164 seats The PP fell 8 points behind the socialists, with 34%, losing the Government and 35 seats

36. Ten keys about 11M 9th KEY: 14M, electoral overturning in Spain CONCLUSIONS: Before the second Gulf War, the Popular Party headed by Aznar relied on a comfortable 8 points advantage over the Socialist Party The Spanish involvement in the Iraqi conflict was undermining these advantages during one year, reaching the 9M with a technical draw The 11M attack in Madrid and the unlucky management of Government from 11th to 14th was punished by citizenship, changing the previous 8 points in socialists favour

37. Ten keys about 11M 9th KEY: 14M, electoral overturning in Spain The first Government action by new president Zapatero was the withdraw of Spanish troops from Iraq . This political action was framed in the logic interpretation of 14M results From that time on, the new Government changed the foreing policy into traditional support to French-German axis

38. Ten keys about 11M 9th KEY: 14M, electoral overturning in Spain All the world press echoed the 11M attacks and the 14M electoral overturning; Polish one was included, outstanding the report published by Polityka with a surprising and graphic headline in Spanish

39. Ten keys about 11M 10th KEY: The victims After being politically and media manipulated, the 11M victims managed to raise their voice in the historical 16th December 2004 parlamentary appearance

40. Ten keys about 11M 10th KEY: The victims Pilar Manjón, who lost her 21 years old son in the attack, was the victims’ spokeperson in a memorable speech in the Congress of Deputies

41. Ten keys about 11M 10th KEY: Victims Manjón demanded responsabilities for 11M errors She strongly criticised politicians and some mass media por using their pain as a “throwable weapon” And she claimed, without success, an independent commission, without political parties, in order to seek the truth and make justice

42. Today we commemorate the first anniversary of massacre In memory of the 192 victims