The timing of the attacks came as no great surprise to Spain's security forces, who only two weeks ago had seized a huge load of explosives destined for Madrid.
Obama, who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, faulted the timing of the hearings, saying that holding them on the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorists attacks reinforces the idea, mistaken in his view, that the Iraq war was tied to the overall fight against terrorism.