The Madrid bombing
11 March 2004. Inspired by .
Imagine an Al-Qaeda attack in Washington DC, three days before the presidential elections.
Now you may have some idea of the level of conspiracy theories that are already emerging here in Spain. The elections are Sunday and early polls said that it was going to be close. That may no longer be the case.
Gut reaction from some seems to be that it was too big, too co-ordinated, too damaging for ETA.
Others say they've just been biding their time, that the elections are the only time they would do something big, some even saying that ETA are so determined to keep their self-identity as a group that the bombs are designed to keep the right wing party in power - because a left wing government would be open to talks and an eventual ceasefire. The end result could be that ETA is left without a bloody fight to keep it united, and they become just another political squabble, as has happened in Ireland. The need to remain a victim can be as forceful as the need to be an aggressor.
Or maybe the whole thing was Muslim extremists. The lack of a warning or a claim for responsibility initally points that way. Either way, the country is in shock and today no-one knows where to turn, what to blame, who to vote for, or what happens next.