Spain PM Faces Trouble Over ETA Bombing

MADRID, Spain -- Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was swept into office unexpectedly in 2004 following a terrorist attack his predecessors falsely blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA.

Three years later, an actual ETA attack is bedeviling the Socialist prime minister who has seen his popularity plunge despite a vibrant economy and his bold liberal reforms. Although most of its leaders are in jail and its support is dwindling, ETA continues to haunt the Spanish psyche.

The group's deadly Dec. 30 car bombing at Madrid's Barajas airport has left Zapatero's peace drive in tatters and boosted his opponents in the polls. And the 46-year-old prime minister has not helped matters by making a series of political blunders that have prompted public hand-wringing, even by some of his allies.

Indeed, Zapatero has seemed to flounder at times since the attack, initially saying the explosion meant only the "suspension" of talks with ETA, then taking a harder line once the bodies of two Ecuadorean men were pulled from the rubble.

He also waited five days to visit the site of the bombing, a misstep that the opposition Popular Party quickly seized upon by sending their own leader to walk through the debris and shake hands with emergency workers.

More recently, the prime minister was the victim of an unfortunate slip of the tongue when he referred to the detonation of the 1,100-pound bomb as a "tragic accident." He quickly corrected himself, but not quickly enough to stop his opponents from ridiculing him anew.

Opinion polls, which had for years given the Socialists a healthy lead, now show the opposition slightly ahead. In one, seven out of 10 Spaniards disapproved of the way Zapatero has handled dealings with ETA and the aftermath of the bombings.

"The attack left him unsure of himself and he was not able to react quickly enough," said Ramon Cotarelo, a political science professor at Complutense University in Madrid.

Zapatero has been steadfast amid the uproar, saying Wednesday he would never rule out dialogue with the Basque group, and criticizing the opposition for abandoning the government on an issue of national security.

"Spaniards have a right to live in peace," he said. "The government has to make that right a reality by using the justice and security forces, and by exploring avenues for dialogue aimed at finding an end to the violence."

He added: "This issue should not be a political one. It is the struggle of life against death."

Those pleas for political unity have largely fallen on deaf ears.