SPAIN BECOMES A TEMPTING MARKET FOR IMPORTED TERROR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705940006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 28, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STnT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/02 :CIA-RDP9O-009658000705940006-4
~+Tuj~r ",~'?~,~~ ~ NEW YORK TIMES
jj~ P~~L _____~=- 28 Apri 1 , 1 X85
Spain Becomes a Temp ing
Market for Imported Terror
tt
By EDWARD SCHUMACHER
MADRID - When a group call-
ing itself Islamic Jihad said it was re-
sponsible for a bomb that killed 18
people in a restaurant near an Amer-
ican air base here this month, Span-
iards took it as a sign that their coun-
try had indeed become part of West-
ern Europe: international terrorism.
had arrived.
But the message received by
Western intelligence agencies was
even more worrisome. The bombing
could signal the first instance of new
anti-American violence moving onto
the Continent. "You've got a climate
in Europe in which Americans are
fair game," said a diplomat. There
was no hard proof, Spanish police
conceded, that the homemade bomb
set off in a barbecue restaurant fre-
quented by airmen from Torrejon Air
Force Base had been placed there by
the amorphous group that claimed it.
Jihad means holy war; suicide com-
mandos using that name have car-:
ried out car bombings against Amer-
icanand Israeli facilities in Lebanon.
Spanish officials accepted the Arab
claim as true because, they said, the
bombing did not fit the pattern of
Spain's own terrorists: Basque
separatists such as E:T.A. and radi-
cal leftists known as Grapo have not
tried to kill Americans. Nor are they
known to have links with the small
bands of extremists that have at-
tackedNATO installations in Europe.. `
People who telephoned the As-
sociated Press in Beirut said the Ma-
drid explosion was in retaliation for a
car bomb on March 8 that killed 75
people near a Shiite mosque in Bei-
rut. Some Moslems had blamed the
Beirut explosion on Americans. '
None of the Americans eating in
the Madrid restaurant on the night of
the bombing was killed and only one
American was wounded. Concern
that the bombing could be the begin-
ning of a European campaign was
fueled by a threat in Lebanon at-
tributed to Abu Nidal, the head~of a?
radical Palestinian faction. He re-
portedly said in January that his
group would attack American and Is-
raeli interests in Europe, mentioning
Spain. Reports have also been circu-
lating among Western intelligence
ac m
a encies of Iranians bean framed for a
An ast mon , t e Libyan leader, Muammar el-Qadda-
fi, announced that a "pan-Arab commando" had been
formed and would cooperate closely with revolutionary
groups in,Europe. Until now, radical Arab groups have
usually directed their attacks in Europe against other
,~~ and, occasionally, Israelis.
An Israeli Warning
For Spain, the Madrid bomb blew away the last
shreds of what had long been considered a special im-
munity to Middle Eastern problems. Spain does not for-
mally recognize Israel and, with its Moorish heritage,
has always claimed special ties to the Arabs. But now it
is moving toward integration with the West. Last month,
it reached agreement on becoming a member of the
European Economic Community. Prime Minister Felipe
Gonzalez is pushing to clarify Spain's uncertain status in-
side NATO. He is also backing support for NATO mem-
bership in a national referendum to be held early next
year. President Reagan will arrive in Spain on May 6 for .
the first American Presidential visit in nearly 30 years.
A quiet visit last week by the Director General of the
Israeli Foreign Ministry, David Kimche, underlined Mr.
Gonzalez's announced intention to recognize Israel soon.
The Government says it is waiting for tye right moment,
although some Arab diplomats say the move is inevitable
and that Spain is being needlessly cautious. Arab vio-
lance reached Spain last year, when two.Saudis were as-
sassinated and a Lebanese diplomat was wounded in
separate attacks that were also claimed by Islamic
Jihad. A Libyan diplomat was also wounded, but respon;;
sibility was. taken by Libyans opposed to Mr. Qaddafl:-
Israelis have warned that Spain is a staging ground',
for Arab terrorism. An estjmated 40,000 to 70,000 Arabs
and Iranians live here. Spanish intelligence officials;
reoccu led with local radical u s admit to havuig~
little inside owled e o the Mi a Easterners.. Part of
the problem is that pain, w c re es eavi y on tour
~, ism, has some of the world's most liberal visa laws. Event.
during the Franco dictatorship. foreigners had easy act
teas. But now the Government is moving to tighten ug~_
procedures. Last year, it ended automatic political asy~'
lum for Iranians. According to Western, Spanish and.`.
- Arab diplomats, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iraq.
Wien leader, has sent many agents to Spain.
The Government also passed a tougher antiterror ~;
ism law, which took effect in January. It permits the poT:
j lice tohold suspected terrorists incommunicado for 10.
days and to shut down publications and broadcasting fa+;
i ,'cilities supporting them. Basques, Catalans from south=;
eastern Spain and far-leftists' have angrily Protested th9~:
law as discriminatory. A Government ombudsman has;-
rejected a petition to go directly to Spain s highest court
! "fof a ruling on the constitutionality of the law. ..~~: ?`?~
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/02 :CIA-RDP9O-009658000705940006-4