11M: Terror in Madrid

As a Spaniard I really enjoyed this documentary to understand clearly the manipulation and the desinformation the Spanish Government did in 2004 responding to the Al Queda attacks in Madrid. I was only a teenager when this happened and it was really shocking because several reasons. First, the national tv and government lied about who did it because several economical interests. Second, the manipulation and denial from all the politics in charge in that moment is embarrassing. Last, this documentary helps to understand how economical interest are the most important things for governments even over the truth.

Good movie!

Good movie!

This is an excellent and sad documentary. Especially for those of us with connections and family in Spain. Having visited and lived in Spain many times over the years, and seeing familiar surroundings of Atocha and Santa Eugenia stations sent chills down my spine. Its easy to forget or not see the horror and chaos of that fateful day in March 2004 when you are standing silently on the Santa Eugenia platform on a sunny morning. The documentary succeeds in giving the victims a voice and tell their story, with some very emotional moments for both victims and the viewer. It also dealt with Spain's support to invade Iraq on the pretence of weapons of mass destructions and as we know now (and USA and others knew then) did not exist. It also deals with the shameful response to the train bombings by the political party of the time PP and especially President Jose Maria Aznar and the Interior Minister Angel Acebes blaming their own homegrown terrorist group ETA for the act, knowing full well there was little or no evidence of this. This was done purely for political purposes so to look like a strong government 3 days out of a General Election. These two politicians continued to spread these lies even after it was clear the perpetrators were the Spanish Jihadist cell of Al Qaeda. The documentary sadly shows how instead of using the tragedy to unite all Spaniards and both major parties, Aznar and his government used the attacks for disgraceful and shameful political gain. As the documentary suggests, not only did the terrorist attack and kill 192 victims and injure a further 2000,but they also succeeded in shattering the confidence of the Spanish people in their government.

Refleja los hechos que sucedieron. Como se cometieron los atentados, como se esclarecieron por la policía y se detuvieron los autores yihadistas. También reflejas las manipulaciones políticas y mediáticas sobre los atentados, por arte de Casimiro García Abadillo y Pedro J Ramírez para convencer que los atentados los había cometido ETA.

En este documental solo se cuenta la historia vista desde el PSOE y todos sus grupos afines. Solo salen periodistas del grupo Prisa, el mismo que alentaba a salir la gente a la calle y contaba mentira en sus informativos. Si quieres conocer lo que realmente sucedió no recomiendo este documental.

People who deplore the Irak War usually identity G. W. Bush and Tony Blair as its planners. They often omit José María Aznar, Presidente de Gobierno (prime minister) of Spain at the time. Of course he was a puny yes-man to Bush and Blair but did his best to promote the war and considered a great honor (as he said on TV) to sit between the leaders of "the most perfect democracies on Earth". His ridiculous posturing was popular among many Spaniards; in Madrid, I heard "Now Spain has an international projection!", To their credit, most Spaniards didn't swallow Aznar's antics and there were huge antiwar demonstrations in Madrid and other cities. The "international projection" lasted until a brutal terrorist attack on Madrid's Atocha station on March 11, 2004 that caused 193 dead and more than 2,000 wounded. Aznar, true to form, blamed the outrage on the Basque terrorist organization ETA, although there was not a shred of evidence and ETA denied any involvement. Then Aznar switched to an alternative theory; the attack was a conspiracy to cause him to lose the general election held 3 days later. These infamies were parroted by the mainstream press, which actually established a new principle, holding strong today: the role of the press is to ape mechanically for the public what the Government lets them know. No analysis, no criticism. No checking of sources. Finally the crime was attributed to an Al-Qaeda cell, and new facts came to view, such as: Aznar had requested help of the CIA to disable ETA ,without realizing that there could be consequences. Aznar did lose the elections but, incredibly, was never confronted with his crimes. As to the material perpetrators, the Spanish police "located" them and there was a police operation in which all were killed. Dead men tell no tales. Case closed I liked this documentary. Part of it centers on the victims and their relatives. The rest focuses on Aznar's despicable behavior.and that of his accomplices, thoroughly documented from news clips and newspaper articles. As to who was the real perpetrator, we will probably never know.

Good movie!