The war on terror loses another battle

A failure of policy

Four London Blasts Kill 40, Injure 300

By JANE WARDELL, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

LONDON - Four blasts rocked the London subway and tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday, sending bloodied victims fleeing after what a shaken Prime Minister

Tony Blair called "barbaric" terrorist attacks. At least 40 people were killed and more than 350 wounded.

Two U.S. law enforcement officials said at least 40 people were killed. In London, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Piddick said at least 33 people killed in the subway system alone. He confirmed there were other deaths on the bus but gave no figures. London hospital officials contacted by The Associated Press reported more than 350 wounded.

Blair said the "terrorist attacks" were clearly designed to coincide with the G-8 summit opening in Gleneagles, Scotland. They also came a day after London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics. A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" claimed responsibility.

The explosions hit three subway stations and a double-decker bus in rapid succession between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. local time. Implementing an emergency plan, authorities immediately shut down the subway and bus lines that log 8.4 million passenger trips every weekday. It brought the city's transportation system to a halt.

"It was chaos," said Gary Lewis, 32, who was evacuated from a subway train at King's Cross station. "The one haunting image was someone whose face was totally black and pouring with blood."

So Porter Goss knows where Bin Laden is? He might well fucking decide to go get him now.

George Bush decided to place a significant number of this country's resources and effort into Iraq. Every Delta Force member, every CIA paramilitary and officer in Iraq, is one which is not hunting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Central and South Asia. In the two years we have been bringing democracy training terrorists in Iraq, Al Qaeda has attacked our allies in Iraq at home, first the Spanish, now the British. This is no surprise, since it has been expected for years that the British would be attacked in some way.

The thing is that these were probably suicide bombers, since the British have been security concisous since the 1970's and leaving bombs like they did in Spain, is unlikely.

Also, the scale of the attack indicates that the bombers have learned to attack mulitple points. Now, Special Branch and MI-5 are crashing in doors or soon will be, and it will seem obvious after they get finished, but there is no country where this can be prevented. Terrorists attack the unaware.

And of course, our ineffectual right wing, who, like teenage girls, like the fashion of the moment, will call for something ot be done, but because Iraq hangs around our neck like a massive security albatross, Al Qaeda has freedom of movement and there is little to do. If Osama had a couple of divisions chasing his ass, this wouldn't be happening. Or at least we wouldn't be seeing him on video in the next few weeks gloating.

What will we do? Arrest a few naive, angry young men, toss them in jail, and have American idiots blather about "Islamofascism" and puff their chests up, while keeping their kids safe at home. AQ knows the content of the character and it is that they will fight for nothing, do nothing, except talk. They blather and whine, and America's real enemies see this and understand this. When these cowards talk of the right to their opinion while not serving, people see that, they understand that, and they see how willing we are to leave Afghanistan to molder. Unlike the fantasists in London and Washington, AQ has a firmer grasp on what they can and cannot do. And it is cheap to blow up buses and trains with a little explosive. I can only hope it isn't Iraqi RDX in the bombs.

We also need to seriously question our "security state" which checks for shoe bombs and pen knives and allows Islamic radicals to plot bombings in London. This is the kind of nonsense which gets people killed.

There was movie which aired earlier this year called Dirty Bomb, which potrayed the use of radiological bombs in central London. Well, except for the radiolocgical part, the same shit just happened for real.

But the problem with the US/UK approach to the "war on terror" is that military approaches are short term solutions. We need political solutions. Bush and his team act as if we can corner and kill and idea, which is what terrorism is. It is an idea, an idea on how to achieve political ends. Until we supplant that idea with something else, and neutralize its appeal, this is the kind of attack we can expect to have to live with. They don't ever have to attack the United States again to make their point in an age of the internet and world wide cable networks.

posted by Steve @ 12:40:00 PM