Terrorist Attacks

[Sweeney]

I am so sorry to hear about the terrible terrorist attacks to hit Madrid. I pray for the victims and I hope nobody with this forum had family or friends on that train. It is a very sad day.

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Soy así que apesadumbrado de oír de los ataques terribles del terrorista en Madrid. Yo orar para las víctimas y espero que nadie con este foro tuviera familia o amigos en ese tren. Es un día muy triste.

[Art]

Thanks, Donna. I hope our friends in Spain know we're greatly hurt and disturbed by this horrible event.

abrazos to all,
Art

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Gracias, Donna. Espero que nuestros amigos en España saban que nos lastíma y impresiona muchísimo este desastre horroroso.

abrazos para todos,
Art

[Bob]

None of the languages of our forum have words that can adequately express our feelings of horror and revulsion concerning the senseless murder of innocents, or of our empathy and shared sorrow with the friends and relatives left behind. I can only hope that our friends and cousins "al otru llau del mar" know that our thoughts and prayers are with them in this saddest of times.

Bob Martinez

[jomaguca]

De verdad gracias ,es horroroso ver la t.v. me recuerda el 11-S, aunque en menor medida,no sé que arreglo tiene ésto, el mundo está loco.

[Patrick]

Our thoughts and prayers to everyone who was effected by this horrible act of cowardice. May the evil doers be brought to justice swiftly.

[Barbara Alonso Novellino]

What a horrible thing to happen. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people who where injured and to the families of those who were killed.

Words can't describe the horror of this awful act. Its so hard to imagine that a group of people have so much hatred. Again, my deepest sympathy to all who suffered in Madrid.

[Terechu]

Thanks everybody, it's nice to know you're out there. I was in a state of shock yesterday to the point that I had to turn off the TV, because I was getting sick from seeing the very crude first images. As the morning wore on the images were censored and they stopped showing human bodies torn to shreds, thank goodness.
I have friends and family in Madrid, as does almost everybody else, and you can imagine what happened to the telephone lines. It was almost noon before I could get through to my friends who use commuter trains.

To judge from the pattern in which they terrorists carried this out, my guess would certainly be Al Qaeda or another islamic terrorist group. It bears their seal: kill as many civilians as possible (much like the Chechen terrorists operate in Russia and the islamic terror groups in the Philippines, Bali, etc.).

Since the vileness of such acts is totally beyond my comprehension, I have no words. There are no words!.
We'll go on with our lives and no terrorist group in the world will be able to stop us.

A big hug to all of you.
Terechu

[Art]

Terechu says several things worth highlighting.

One is that we have to turn off the TV, no matter how compelling it is to watch those horrors. The shock of seeing all of those images over and over is very hard on the soul. On and just after 9-11, it seems to me that many Americans (and maybe people all around the world) were harmed by the constant repetition of those images.

It does seem as though the culprits could have been Al Qaeda or some related group. There is a huge risk to democracy, decency, and civilization in the aftermath of an event like this. It is extremely easy for a people and their government to react emotionally rather than rationally. Look at us in America. The US has already gone down that miserable road with Bush and his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I fear that we (both the US and Spain, it seems) will be paying for this knee-jerk politics for years and years. I hope not.

Best wishes to all,
Art

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Terechu dice algunos pensamentos que quiero destacar.

Uno es que tenemos que apagar la TV, a pesar de como es muy absorbente mirar aquellos horrores. El choque de ver todas aquellas imágenes otra vez y otra vez es muy difícil para el alma. Sobre y justo después 9-11, me parece que muchos Americanos (y tal vez gente de todo el mundo) fueron dañados por la repetición constante de aquellas imágenes.

Realmente parece que los culpables pudieran haber sido Al Qaeda o algún grupo relacionado. Hay un enorme riesgo a la democracia, la decencia, y la civilización después de un desastre como esto. Es sumamente fácil para una gente y su gobierno para reaccionar emocionalmente más bien que racionalmente. Mírenos en América. EU ya han bajado en este camino tan miserable con Bush y sus guerras en Afghanistan y Irak. Temo que nosotros (tanto EU como España, parece) pagará por esta política automática o instintiva para años y años. Espero que no.

Saludos a todos,
Art

[Art]

There are three photos of Oviedo's demonstration against terrorism and against the attacks in Madrid on this site:
http://www.asturiasdigital.com/fotodigital.htm
http://www.asturiasdigital.com/fotodigital2.htm
http://www.asturiasdigital.com/fotodigital3.htm

These photos change every week day, so they'll probably not be at those addresses for long.

The text that came with the email notice said:

(my translation) The demonstration against terrorism began at 7 this Friday evening in Oviedo. The participants brought traffic in the Asturian capital's main streets to a standstill, with what was the largest gathering(?) in the history of Asturias.

You can sign up for their email by using the link at the top of any of those pages.

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Hay tres fotos de la manisfestación en Oviedo contra terrorismo y contra los ataques en Madrid en estos páginas:
http://www.asturiasdigital.com/fotodigital.htm
http://www.asturiasdigital.com/fotodigital2.htm
http://www.asturiasdigital.com/fotodigital3.htm

Estas fotos cambian cada día laboral, entonces probablemente no estarán en aquellas direcciones para largo tiempo.

El texto que vino con el correo electrónico dijo:

A las 7 de la tarde de hoy viernes daba comienzo la manifestación en contra del terrorismo en Oviedo, los asistentes colapsaron las principales calles de la capital del Principado en lo que ha sido la mayor convocatoria de la historia de Asturias.

Puedes suscribirte para este correo electrónico usando el eslabón en la parte superior de cualquiera de aquellas páginas.

[Evelyn]

My heart goes out to all those who have suffered the pain and loss of this horrific event. I keep you all in my thoughts. My heartfelt respect and admiration goes out to all those citizens of Spain who demanded accountability from their leaders and showed such incredible solidarity and courage in the face of such a horrendous tragedy. There's much to be learned from your example. (If only the people in our country would take a similar stand and participate so vigorously in guiding our own future. It would be astounding if we could get 76% of us to get out and vote.)