London Is Not "Over There", Mr. Bush

The full horror of the London bombings is becoming apparent. the AP reports at least 40 killed and 360 wounded, according to US sources who have spoken to senior British policemen.

The similiarities with Madrid in March last year, when 191 lost their lives, is readily apparent and a group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" has posted a claim of responsibility on the internet. According to AP:

"This is clearly an al-Qaida style attack. It was well-coordinated, it was timed for a political event and it was a multiple attack on a transportation system at rush hour," said Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies at King's College in London.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick said there had been no arrests, and it was unclear whether suicide bombers were involved.

Asked about the claim of responsibility, Paddick said: "We will be looking at that ... at the moment we don't know if that's a legitimate claim or not." He added British officials had received no prior warning nor did they have any advance intelligence that the attacks would occur.


On a personal note, I've been worrying about friends who worked in the Lloyd's building or in various insurance brokerages in the City. The phones are mostly jammed though and given the situation in London I don't expect fast answers to emails. Some of those colleagues were close by Undershaft and Helen's back in 1993 when an IRA bomb devestated buildings there. Like other Londoner's they are resillient people. I hear that most are trying to get on with their day's work - that delivery vans still run, pub's are still busy for lunch and in general a "Blitz spirit" is still the order of the day.

I've only one last thought on the matter for today.

President Bush? London is not "over there", Madrid is not "over there". They are as close to the heart of the free world as Washington or New York or Atlanta. The concept of fighting the terrorists in Iraq or otherwise "over there" so that we don't have to fight them "over here" is today proven to be nonsense. Sheer jingoism. Far from being a flypaper for Al Qaida, Iraq has become a flypaper for the money, resources and security assets of the US and the UK.

The truth as I see it is that had you and Prime Minister Blair not dragged us, by misdirection and outright lie, into a war in Iraq that had nothing to do with fighting terror then perhaps those resources would have been useable to prevent these disasters. Yes, terrorists are the culprits of these attacks and I fervently hope none involved ever come to any kind of trial but instead meet the "double-tap" of justice from the SAS. However, you and Tony Blair must shoulder a large part of the culpability for failing to wage the war on terror in favour of your Iraqi adventure. It is time, and past time, that you both answered to the people.