major incident in London

The Spirit of the British is an inspiration to me.

See attached, I'd rather not paste it as it has a few "colorful" verbs for the terrorists.

http://www.lnreview.co.uk/news/005167.php

I didn't know that, Eva.

My mother lived in Liverpool through the Blitz as she called it. She told me about how no matter how many bombs fell, her friends and neighbours tried to go about their lives as if nothing of consequence was happening.

They did this in defiance of death and destruction that they faced daily so their enemy would realize that they never give in. I'm proud to see the same spirit running through the veins of the residents of London.

I wish the very best for all those in London and the rest of the UK today.

I've been married twice.

Oh, lord, BrandX. That should get a tiny smile from all of us.

I only heard about this at noon EST. How terrible.

that had occurred to me but I daren't post it!

So, have all our london A2Kers checked in? I don't even know who they all are. I see many here in this thread, though.

I didn't see Quinn1 post here (maybe I missed her). She emailed me and told me, for those who remember him, that 'still waving...mostly harmless' (is that right?) is safe.

that is good news, l'k

not waving but mostly harmless was always one of my favs for the song he wrote for boomer and mo long ago

That's the username! I've known him as Philip for the last coupla years.

I think the skating party pix on your site were probably the first pix I'd ever seen of online acquaintances.

Red mittens.

wow, I don't even know where those pix are anymore. The early photos were on other people's websites. He must have made quite an impression on you.

boomer mentioned the Abuzz World/Wold threads yesterday on the "etiquete" thread. He made quite an impression on all of us there.

<grin>

Got to go do my job. I just wanted to check in with the Londoners. I'll be back later tonight.

Certainly relieved to see the London-based A2Kers checking in. I woke to this news this morning, have had internet news, TV and radio going all day. I've been meaning to catch up to this thread for hours now, just haven't managed it til now.

Some thoughts -

Though yet unconfirmed officially, I have no doubt this was Al Queda.

I doubt this has anything at all to do with the Olympic selection; the logistics of this sort of coordinated attack all but preclude last-minute adjustments.

Not at all surprising some of the blasts occured near Islamic neighborhoods; the perps logically would have dwelled in such neighborhoods, and, even if wearing loose, flowing, bomb-concealing traditional garb, would attract no undue attention on the streets or in the tubes in such vicinities.

Its is uncertain what the general European reaction will be, but there can be no doubt this outrage will serve the jihadists ill in Great Britain - it will have precisely the opposite effect. British resolve is nothing if not indefatigable when invoked in anger, and there can be no surer means of invoking British anger and resolve than to attack London. The Blair Government's hand re The War on Terrorism has been strengthened exponentially. I expect much the same will be the case throughout The Commonwealth.


And finally - The '93 World Towers bombing, the Embassy bombings, the Anbar Towers bombing, The USS Cole bombing, 9/11, Bali, Madrid, Istanbul, the jihadist's toll of innocent civilians in both Iraq and Afghanistan, now London, and some folks still fail - or refuse - to understand what The War on Terrorism is about, who started it, how vital it is to win the war, how foolish it is to oppose the war. Of course war is detestable; that is its very nature. Never the less, the dangerous folly of excusing, acceding to and aiding, directly or indirectly, consciously or incidentally, those who make war on you is sheer, suicidal madness. I sincerely hope a lot of folks get this wake-up call. I know some won't.


Update - light on details, but wire reports are confirming the discovery of at least two unexploded devices, apparently equipped with either timed or remotely activated detonators. It would seem the cowards behind this atrocity didn't even have the courage to sacrifice themselves for their despicable cause.

finn d' abuzz responded to my post, copied below. I have never gotten involved in one of those back and forth, long-winded posts that go over every word the other poster wrote, but in this case, finn made assumptions concerning my meaning that were so off the mark that i will point them out and leave it at that.




Finn responded: I was wondering how long it would take before someone

blamed these attacks on the Bush administration.

First of all, from the quotes I've seen by the folks who

have laid claim to these attacks, they are not

distinguishing between the attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Does anyone think this attack would not have happened if

there had been no war in Iraq?

(I didn't say that these attacks would not have happened if

there had been no war in Iraq. I did mention the deadly

repercussions of increased terrorism resulting from our

invasion.)

Secondly, even assuming that that the invasion of Iraq (led

by the US and joined by the UK) was a terrible mistake, it

would not justify the mass murder of civilians. One might

stretch credulity; ignoring intrinsic morality and argue

that "conquered" Iraqis have no recourse but to resort to

terrorism to battle their foes, but this would be an

argument with little substance.

(I have never said that the invasion of Iraq ever justified

the mass muder of civilians and I never said that

"conquered" Iraqis have no recourse but to resort to

terrorism.)


* It is possible, but highly unlikely that all involved in

these attacks were Iraqis.
( I doubt that Iraqis were involved in this attack and never said they were involved.)

* Insurgent Iraqis represent a tiny minority of the Iraqi

people
(Noone is disagreeing with you here!)


* By wantonly killing their fellow Iraqis, the Insurgents

have forfeited whatever shred of legitimacy, they might

ever have had, as representatives of the Iraqi people.
(Is this still part of your objection to what I wrote?

Where do you find this in anything I have ever written?)


Finally, reacting to these attacks in one of the ways you

suggest - pulling out of Iraq, rewards the attacks and

assures future attacks.
(Yes, there is an ancient history of revenge making things

better.Revenge is so much easier than making a dedicated

attempt to improve the lives of people living under tyrants

all over the world.)


I make no apologies for our government any more then I

would have expected the British populace to apologize to

Londoners or the Northern Irish for the mayhem caused by

the IRA. Afterall, there were any number of misguided

people (including many here in the US) who felt that the

British Government had brought the IRA attacks upon

themselves by their "occupation" of Northern Ireland.


I respect your opinions. All I ask is that you don't accuse

me of stating something that isn't to be found in my

writing anywhere on A2K.)

We have to fight terrorism and the causes of terrorism. I dont believe the terrorists woke up one morning with a burning sense of envy of the freedoms of the West and resolved to blow up a bus. For a start its quite possible the perpetrators were British nationals. So what causes terrorism? The answer seems obvious to me but I'm too tired right now to spell it out.

See ya

and I'm sure I can speak for many Brits by saying thanks to all for your messages of encouragement and support.

Lotsa ways to go with an answer to the question of terrorism's causes. Its interesting to see the wheels - the masterminds - tend to emmanate from the very privileged demographics they attack. The footsloldiers, the grunts, the walking bombs and the street-fighting rifle-toters, tend to be from the other end of the socio-economic spectrum. The upper echelon are more criminals than ideologues, driven by greed and power lust. The underlings vary a bit more, but desperation makes them easy prey for the twisted propaganda of their cynical puppetmasters. Now, of course, those are generalities, subject to all the risks and criticisms generalities merit.

I think the most likely effective means of ending terrorism is to dry up the pool of footsoldiers, who largely are drawn to the cause out of a sense of outrage and despair driven by ignorance, lack of opportunity, disenfranchisement, poverty, and oppression. Remove the oppressors, educate, enfranchise, empower the footsoldiers to lift themselves from poverty, cut the puppet's strings, and they have something to live for, not something to die for. As for the puppetmasters, visit on them, mercilessly, unflinchingly, the fate to which they would consign their willing cannon fodder.

A Wikipedia page about the London bombing is already online.