Well, I guess they needed something for the polls. It was good timing for terrorism… London wins the Olympics, the G8 is going on – everyone is celebrating, then POW! Multiple bombings on the London Metro, something like 40 people dead and 1000 injured, railway cars smashed, a bus exploded.
Blair links it to the G8. The “Secret Al Qaeda Jihad Organization in Europe” that claimed responsibility for the London attacks says that they did so as retaliation for Britain’s involvement in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan – which actually makes more sense. They include “Denmark, Italy and all of the Crusader governments” in future attacks. Horrible, brutal, desperate and wrong – but there is a logic to the claim. Bush says, “The contrast couldn’t be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill, those who’ve got such evil in their hearts that they will take the lives of innocent folks. The war on terror goes on.” I’ll bet it does. If it turns out (as many people are arguing, with more evidence than you’d think) that Bush allowed 9/11 to happen, those words will be good to requote. I’m almost cynical enough at this point to begin to suspect that Bush is simply ordering these events to happen. So the US/UK and the terrorists support one another’s darkness – a bit like evangelists and titty bars.
Sometimes humor has a grain too much truth.
Unconfirmed sources report that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is taking full responsibility for the bombing attacks in London today. In a tearful press conference this morning Blair spoke to the nation and asked to be forgiven for involving Britain in the misguided American military adventure in Iraq. – Unconfirmed Sources
After the explosions, the pound dropped to a 19-month low ( but it’s still worth $1.74 or so).
One might almost miss that Egypt’s ambassador to Iraq has been killed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group – but that’s pretty significant too. We have done nothing, not even Rove-fare, to counteract the impression of us as Crusaders. We’re pretty similar, Crusading Capitalists and Pseudochristians – greedy plunderers of the spoils of war. Like in olden days, the money doesn’t even go to the conquering country as a whole but only to chosen ones, in this case insiders, cronies, CEOs and contracters (like Halliburton, who just won yet another big contract in Iraq!). This administration is hostile to the poor and to the working class of all countries including its own, cowboy swagger notwithstanding.
My heart flies out to everyone in London and all of the British Isles. My deepest sympathies. Don’t let them use this to do to you what they are doing to us. I like what I see so far about the local reaction – they won’t be ruled by fear, unlike us.