No evidence al-Qaida knew of Madrid plot

'Turning point'
Officials say that it was "the Tunisian's" charisma that helped move the plan forward and that any links he may have had with other terrorists played less of a role than initially believed.

"Madrid is the new model. It basically took weeks, no more than a couple of months and had a big political impact," said one senior U.S. intelligence official. "Madrid gives us clues about strategically what we need to worry about over time. That is, localized cells that don't necessary have a central hierarchy that we can target, but who are inspired by the same ideology and who see us as one of their enemies — us and our allies. That's the strategic wave of the future."

The terrorists almost certainly were inspired by the words of bin Laden and others, but inspiration, rather than training, funding and provision of material, was all the Madrid terrorists received from any terrorist group.

U.S. officials have increasingly referred to Madrid as "the turning point" in part because of the role of "like-minded" terrorists and the speed with which the attacks were planned, devised and executed. 

Specifically, they note that while 9/11 planning took more than two years, the Madrid attack was set up and carried out within a matter of weeks, used off-the-shelf cell phones as remote detonators and explosives stolen from a quarry. 

"Terrorists are looking to Madrid with its quick implementation, its ability to carry out a devastating attack," said a second senior U.S. intelligence official.

Such sophistication and cohesion was previously believed to only be present in terrorist groups that had long histories and deep loyalties.

Moreover, they note that while bin Laden and al-Qaida were not involved, they had to be very happy with the outcome in that al-Qaida was established in the late 1980s as a "base" for Islamic radicals, the idea being that such a "base" would provide resources to groups like the Madrid bombers but not control them. In this way, al-Qaida would more resemble a network than a hierarchy. Al-Qaida, in fact, means "military base" in Arabic.

Therefore, said the senior U.S. official, Madrid is in turn an inspiration for other terrorists.

"Madrid was a major success for them in that they believed it affected the Spanish election," said the official.

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