MADRID, 20 March 2004 — Spain’s outgoing government faced renewed charges of misleading the public and its allies over the Madrid bombings as a major newspaper drew parallels yesterday with US and British handling of intelligence on Iraq.

Among the questions being asked was whether Spain’s initial insistence on blaming Basque separatists instead of Islamist militants had falsely reassured European neighbors who should have urgently been reassessing their own threat levels.

Evidence now points strongly to Al-Qaeda or radical Islamist sympathizers as the authors of the March 11 attacks that blew up four packed commuter trains, killing 202 people.

Despite taking the unusual step of releasing documents from the CNI intelligence service to support its case, the departing conservative government remained under fire.

Security analyst Claude Moniquet said accusations the government downplayed clues pointing towards Islamist involvement had a “pernicious” effect on the security of Spain’s European allies.

“Several allies of Spain, considering that the attack was a purely Spanish affair, neglected to raise their own security level,” Moniquet said in a commentary from his European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center.

“And within the first hours of the inquiry, often decisive, the foreign services were unable to instigate (work) on possible international relations of the terrorists.”

Left-leaning El Pais newspaper accused the government, by releasing secret CNI documents to journalists, of trying to shift blame to the secret services. “The message is: Maybe we made a mistake in thinking it was (Basque separatist group) ETA, but it was the CNI’s fault,” the daily said.

It drew parallels with President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, both of whom have been dogged by accusations that they manipulated intelligence on alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the Iraq war.

Releasing the intelligence file on Thursday, the Spanish government again denied it had pointed the finger at ETA for political reasons, fearing voters would punish it if the bombs were seen as Islamist retribution for Madrid’s unpopular decision to back the Iraq war.

In the event, that was precisely what happened: In Sunday’s general election, Spaniards unexpectedly voted out the conservative government and elected the Socialists, who opposed the war and want to withdraw Spanish troops from occupied Iraq. The outgoing government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar remains in a caretaker role while a new administration is formed. Clearing its name could be crucial for a future political comeback by his Popular Party (PP).

Political analyst Charles Powell said the government had yet to explain why its ministers had pushed the ETA line so forcefully at such an early stage in the case.

The affair has also had embarrassing diplomatic repercussions for Spain.