9/11 coordinating meeting was held in Spain

SPAIN (El Pais/José María Irujo) The coordinators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States held last-minute preparations in Spain, according to classified documents made available by WikiLeaks. Ramzi bin al Shinbh, a prisoner in Guantánamo, met with Mohammed Atta, the leader of the suicide pilots, in the Catalan town of Reus in July 2001. This information is part of the extensive file that interrogators drew up on Bin al Shinbh, considered one of the most dangerous and valuable inmates at the US-run prison camp on the island of Cuba

This file, which EL PAÍS has been given access to, shows that Bin al Shinbh, a Yemeni national, acknowledged the importance of this last meeting, and that he claimed not to have received any assistance from jihadists residing in Spanish territory at the time.>

Wikileaks: Ceuta and Melilla are key drug transit points according to Rabat

CEUTA/MELILLA (Agencies) According to US diplomatic cables released recently by Wikileaks, the two Spanish outposts in North Africa are key transit points for cocaine moving from Latin America through Africa and into Europe. The cables also claim that the Spanish enclaves are important gateways for heroin destined for addicts in Morocco. The claims were recorded in correspondence from the US embassy in Rabat, attributed to unnamed officials in the Moroccan government and published earlier this week in El País newspaper. The same report says that the drugs are sent into West African countries from Latin America and then across Mauretania, Mali and Algeria through sparsely populated areas of the Sahara desert, making the most of lax, corrupt or nonexistent border controls to get shipments into Morocco and the Spanish cities.>

Wikileaks: Worried Washington had eyes on Garzón

SPAIN/USA (El País/Jesús Duva/Carlos Cué) The American Embassy in Madrid has been keeping a close eye on the High Court, and in particular on the judges and attorneys involved in US-related issues. Secret documents leaked by Wikileaks show that one of the magistrates under closest surveillance was Baltasar Garzón, above all because of the possibility he might open legal proceedings against US officials for the torture of prisoners at the Guantánamo detention center.>

Wikileaks names Strait of Gibraltar in a list of 'strategically important' sites to US Government

GIBRALTAR (GibChronicle/Photo of USS Harry S. Truman coming through the strait, by strategypage.com) The Strait of Gibraltar was included in a secret list of global industries and assets that the US regards as critical to its global strategic needs, says today's Gibraltar Chronicle. The list detailed hundreds of pipelines, telecommunications cables, factories and transport chokepoints around the world that would cause most damage to US interests if destroyed. In 2008, US diplomats were asked to identify non-military sites “…whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States.” The focus was on physical link points for energy and telecommunications; goods and services important to US needs, including raw materials and finished products; and critical supply chain nodes. The Strait of Gibraltar falls into this last category and its presence on the list is not a surprise as it is one of the world’s busiest maritime waterways and has already been targeted by terrorists in the past, though that plot was foiled by Moroccan security forces. (Read the whole article here.)