The unknowns of 17-A, seven years later
There is no doubt that the initial words of the jihadist convicted of 17-A, Mohamed Houli, in his appearance before the Congressional commission of inquiry, directly accusing the CNI of knowing the intentions of the Ripoll imam, are a political earthquake. His exact words were: "The CNI was aware of the imam's intentions and allowed him to come and brainwash us. I say this now and not before for fear of reprisals or that it could harm me, but I am already condemned and I have nothing to lose." A terrorist has the credibility he has, and Houli's words reveal a certain self-exculpatory intention when he accuses Abdelbaki es-Satty of having "brainwashed" the boys in the cell, and it is also true that he does not have any documentary evidence, but even so his testimony is shocking because he is someone totally alien to the political fray.
The PP has reacted with indignation and has left the commission room, in yet another demonstration that it has no interest in clarifying the facts. At the other extreme, former president Carles Puigdemont and people close to Junts have seen in Houli's words the confirmation of the conspiracy theory about 17-A, which maintains that the State encouraged the attacks to derail the independence process. Be that as it may, what we know for sure so far is that the CNI was not diligent enough because it was unable to identify Es-Satty, whom it tried to recruit. In the end, however, it ruled him out because it did not consider him a reliable source, but it was also unable to see the fanatic jihadist skilled enough to recruit young people and turn them into terrorists that he later became. This fact alone would justify an internal investigation to clarify what went wrong and an assumption of responsibility by the CNI leaders at that time. It was a very serious mistake for which no one has yet apologized or taken responsibility.
Houli's words add fuel to the fire and make it more essential than ever to resolve all the unknowns that, seven years later, still linger about the attacks. This investigation should be carried out outside of all the political noise, and within the framework of an internal reform of the CNI and the law that governs the secret services, since cases such as the spying on pro-independence leaders show that at some point they have been used to persecute dissidents and not so much to protect the integrity of all Spanish citizens.
Catalan society, and above all the victims' families, cannot allow all these shadows of doubt to continue filling newspaper pages and minutes on the news. Out of respect for them, all this must be stopped and taken to the end. Perhaps the Congressional commission of inquiry is only a first step in this direction, but more should be done once it is closed and its conclusions are made public.
