Updated at: 1742 PST, Sunday, December 12, 2010
MADRID: The U.S. grew so concerned about the possibility of terror attack in Spain in 2007 that it proposed setting up a counterterrorism center in the country's second-largest city, according to confidential cables.The three U.S. cables, released by WikiLeaks on Saturday, say the U.S. planned the "counterterrorism, anti-crime and intelligence center" at its consulate in Barcelona.
The goal was "combating the target-rich environment of terrorist and criminal activities centered in the region,".
One U.S. cable, dated 2005, sets the scene, saying that "Spain is both a significant target of terrorist groups and a major logistical hub for extremist groups operating across the globe."
A 2007 cable says Spain "is a past and current al-Qaida target" and a critical player in U.S.-EU counterterrorism efforts.
According to the cable, heavy immigration from North Africa and Southeast Asia had made the region "a magnet for terrorist recruiters."
The plans for the proposed center say 13 agents would be strategically situated to monitor quickly who and what was passing through the area from places such as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and the south of France.
"The threat in Catalonia is clear," the cable says, categorizing Barcelona as a "crossroads of worrisome activities" and a natural meeting place and transit point of people and goods moving to and through the region from all countries bordering the western Mediterranean.
It is not clear whether the center was ever created, and the U.S. Embassy in Madrid declined to comment about that Saturday.
Embassy spokesman Jeff Galvin would only say that the U.S. and Spain enjoy "excellent cooperation" in counterterrorism investigations.
This view is echoed in an October 2006 U.S. cable, which says that Spain "has made great strides in disrupting terrorist cells and frustrating would-be terrorist plots" and that the U.S. was pleased with Spain's counterterrorism cooperation.
