Casual
Winston, Tina
Casual MURDER IN MADRID We were running late. The law school classmate I had come to Spain with convinced me there was no way we would make our train. Around 8:45, we gave up and decided we would...
...Though we tried to avoid the Atocha station, we found we had to pass directly in front of it...
...At the mention of Madrid, her smile was replaced by a look of anguish...
...This was unlike their prior attacks, she said: Today's actions amounted to war...
...Back in our room, we called the U.S...
...The group next to us was from the Netherlands...
...The scene was filled with tension...
...Apparently there had been a call for all madrilenos to donate blood...
...As the day progressed, the death count rose...
...As we walked, I felt like an intruder...
...I wanted to tell the people there that I understood their shock, disbelief, fear, and anger...
...People were standing transfixed, behind barricades, straining to see what was going on across the street...
...Terrorism is something we face in common...
...Our attempt at passing for tourists petered out...
...About halfway, we began to smell smoke...
...They told us the latest reports said al Qaeda was involved in the bombing...
...But at the cafe where we stopped for breakfast, the television was reporting 23 deaths...
...The television screen behind her was flashing pictures of the injured, destroyed trains, and desperate onlookers searching for loved ones...
...The images were all too familiar...
...As we passed through the Puerto del Sol, we saw people forming lines in the square...
...No matter what group turns out to be responsible or how many Americans were killed, we were all attacked on 11-M...
...The shops were open, people were walking their dogs, old ladies were strolling down the street arm in arm...
...That's when the sirens erupted...
...There was no mass exodus from Madrid, as there was from Washington and New York on September 11, and our journey to Toledo passed without incident...
...It took an hour on a public bus...
...She gave us an impromptu lecture on the politics, history, and tactics of the Basque terrorist group, the ETA...
...Amidst the sights and memories, Sra...
...Except for the occasional police car zipping past, it could have been an ordinary morning...
...At all of the museums, we saw flyers posted on the doors that read, "For peace, say no to terrorism...
...There were reports of unidentified people in hospitals, and uplifting stories of lost family members found...
...Concerned relatives called from home...
...Esther Calatrava told us the death toll was now over 100...
...Just as we in America had our heroes of 9/11, so did Spain...
...There were wives holding up pictures of their missing husbands, begging for any kind of information...
...TINA WINSTON...
...Ordinary citizens brought blankets from their homes to cover the dead...
...My mind raced...
...embassy and were told there was no reason to cancel our trip, so we headed out onto the streets of Old Madrid...
...In an attempt at normalcy, we hopped on a tram that provides panoramic views for picture-taking tourists...
...There seemed to be something going on at the Atocha station...
...The man behind the desk raised his head and stated flatly: Terrorism...
...Around 8:45, we gave up and decided we would have to take a bus from Madrid to Toledo...
...There was nothing anyone could do but watch the smoke rising from the back of the building...
...While we were getting ready, my friend turned on the television...
...I found the hotel staff huddled around the check-in desk listening to the radio...
...When we arrived at our hotel, the woman behind the registration desk asked where we had come from...
...They were very interested in our being Americans...
...I stayed glued to the television until three in the morning...
...Many people who lived close to the station heard the explosions and instantly went to help remove bodies from the wreckage...
...Calatrava's words kept returning to my mind: This is war...
...Using my modest Spanish, I figured out that there had been an explosion, with possible casualties...
...The police were closing all the metro entrances...
...The reality is that it can affect us at any time or place...
...For the next hour and a half we wended our way through cobblestone streets...
...I decided to go to the lobby and find out what was going on...
...The pain in my stomach would not go away...
...I opened the door to our balcony and heard them coming from every direction...
...It wasn't long before the attack was being referred to as "11-M," for March 11...
...We decided to cut the day short and return to our room...
...We started to make our way to the bus station...
...Sra...
...The only thing I managed to say was, "Lo siento," I'm sorry...
...I hesitated...
...We tried to make our way through the crowd quickly and respectfully...
Vol. 9 • March 2004 • No. 27
