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Something curious is happening in London The entire London Underground network is closed following explosions at
Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Edgware Road, Old Street and Russell Square. This
is presently being blamed on a “power surge”. Curious.
Update: A bus has exploded in Russell Square and there are reports of two more buses having been bombed elsewhere in London. Looks like it is a terrorist attack.
(Note: This is one of the regular Samizdatistas blogging from the Canary Wharf office district in London – anonymously because he is at work).
Update:Sky News is reporting “90 casualties” at Aldgate. Transport unions are reporting “some fatalities”. The Home Secretary has referred to “terrible casualties”. There are apparently two trains trapped underground at Edgware Road. I have heard a hearsay report that three unexploded bombs were found at King’s Cross.
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How soon before some state official cites the Civil Contingincies Act and takes control of London???
I left London (where I travelled extensively by bus and Tube) hardly a week ago…
Very worried about you guys now.
Are all Samizdatistas accounted for, safe, and secure?
It looks likely that the tube was a terrorist attack as well. Witnesses are saying that there was an actual explosion in one of the carriages.
City of London appears to be the target. Looks like many bombs have exploded. Some of the banks in the Liverpool St area being evacuated
Monsieur Frogman…
I am OK and I work next door to Liverpool Street. There are just more sirens and people milling about than normal.
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant move by the islamofascists this time. They’re giving London, and by extension, the UK, an ultimatum:
“Stop supporting the US, or we’ll disrupt your Olympics and your lives.”
The next few months is going to be interesting…
TWG
Big explosion in Aldgate Underground station and also in Edgware Road area, so far over 90 reported casualties (Sky News) and they are using buses to transfer the injured to The Royal London Hospital. They have also cut ALL telephone and mobile communications in London (in case you are trying to contact anyone), presumably to prevent any further attempts to detonate explosives remotely. All public transport in London has been cancelled until further notice.
Updated – they just found another bomb at Stockwell station.
Islamofascists? I have memories of Rainbow Warrior sunk by and explosion in New Zealand.
Well now tony has his excuse for pushing through ID Cards. They will probably also use it to get the Religious Hatred bill through, after all it won’t be right to have people expressing hatred of Islamofacism.
Im in the West End. Sounds like three buses and three tubes blown up. There are police, ambulances and sirens everywhere. Wonder if Lady Tonge “understands” the people who did this?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3421669.stm
Too early to pick a culprit.
NuLabour worries me more than the bomber. They’re bound to take advantage of this. The bombs may have all gone off by now, but the damage has only started. Heads up!
Oh come on! Is there really a shred of doubt in anybody’s mind that this is the handiwork of Islamists?
The arguments are still the same against ID cards, I don’t see how anyone could claim they would have prevented this. They made no difference in Madrid. As someone on the news said, no matter how good your security is there is no way you could prevent something like this on such an extensive transport network. In the words of Benjamin Franklin;
“Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty.”
I have to say that watching the coverage of this just brings back September 11th for me all over again. I suppose it speaks volumes for how truly evil the Islamofascists are; to do this after London’s triumph with the 2012 Olympics. That is, if it is the Islamofascists, who I am personally putting my money on as the bastards behind this atrocity.
No dought in my mind that this was an Islamist attack. It has their modus operendi, multiple co-ordinated attacks designed for maximum publicity. But Julian Morrison is right. The most damage to this country will not be done by the Islamists and their bombs, but by New Labour and it’s response.
The commenters on TV (American networks, but British reporters) are making a big effort to say it could be AQ *or* IRA, but one of them casually mentioned that it’s been a decade since the IRA has tried any major actions, and that several tightly-coordinated bombs versus transport is really an AQ signature.
They’re saying six explosions so far, one unexploded bomb they’re going to detonate, and “at least” 90 casualties (wounded) and only 2 dead _so far_.
From the photos of the buses, the fatality rate will go *way* up, and from the reports of people who got off the trains, there’s going to be a lot more people injured and dead down there.
Will the G8 really deal with the largely fictitious threat of global warming now?
Heard rumors that some of the bomb sites have been rigged with delayed timers to take out emergency personnel.
If true, then this is a horror beyond comparison.
Looks like the islamists have more assets beyond what they’re commiting to Iraq. The flypaper strategy is falling apart.
In addition, this can also be seen as an extension of the islamic strategy after the US’ demonstrated that it wsn’t going to roll over any time soon; isolating it from its allies.
Let’s hope the British reclaim their fire and not roll over.
TWG
Good to hear you’re ok Dave. I am sure many people who frequent this site have mates who work in the city. Our thoughts are will all those desperately trying to get in touch with their loved ones over the bugger mobile and phone networks.
I agree that we should not let the goverment slam through ID Cards after taking advantage of this event. ID Cards would have not prevented this any more than it did Madrid & New York.
BTW there is no doubt in my mind its Islamists.
A couple of people have mentioned what Labour will do now.
It is possible that some politicians will try to take advantage of this, but it can be used both ways: this can also highlight the stupidity of harassing airline passengers. It’s not as if you can require all subway/bus passengers to have ID processed against a central database, remove their shoes and submit to searches before boarding.
This is an opportunity to push for effective measures instead.
Dave: glad to read that you’re OK. You take care, right?
Somebody just told me that the French radio reports the attacks as coming from Al-Qaeda. Not sure about the timing, but I wonder if they know something we don’t…
Oh well. Not that I doubt it comes from them anyway.
From Colorado, USA:
I saw the first AP report from two hours ago: explosions in the tube. But I immediately suspected more and was not pleased to find it so. Multiple explosions.
Then I switched on Fox News in NYC which I’ve watched for the last hour.
They are relying on Sky News inteviews and camera and telephone commentary from Mansoor Ijaz – a NYC based consultant and terror analyst, currently in his hotel in London. And Colonel David Hunt, Fox analyst and recent author of (in US) “They Still Don’t Get It” – a call to redoubling anti-terror efforts. And (Brit) Christopher Walker w/Global Radio News rounding out this pond’s sides coverage.
The grief and shock is palpable: A Q at work – no doubt.
Suspicion heavily falls on the Live8 influx of 200,000 people just days ago to pre-position people and materiel for this attack. Great (and unfortunate) cover for terrorist movement.
Striking commentary from TWG. But now terror goes to the top of G* agenda. This could be London’s 3/11.
Keep on, everyone.
London bombs update – 11 am to 12 noon
I’m watching the BBC New 24 service, at 11 am – ish, which makes it clear that the bomb blasts are not big ones. Nothing remotely like 9/11. A “series of explosions” on public transport. The roof of a bus was blown off in Tavistock Square. “Reports of explosion in Hounsditch area”, near Liverpool Street Station. Edgware Rd closed.
London Underground has been totally shut down, and also buses in central London.
Talk now that there has also been a train crash, at Kings Cross.
The most immediate impact upon most of us would seem to be that the telephone system is totally swamped. I have an appointment today elsewhere in London which I have already decided not to keep, but can’t tell them. They’ll just have to work it out. Everyone in London seems to have grabbed their phone, fixed line or portable, and all have got the same engaged tone.
My routine would have been to travel by bus, but that almost certainly will not work.
The most depressing thing is that all these “incidents” appear to have been rather amateurish and small, clever only in their approximate simultaneity, yet the confusion caused is so major.
“One shouldn’t speculate too much”, a Policeman is now saying, but it seems like a planned series of terrorist attacks. Basically, he is saying, there is no hard evidence, but what else could this have been?
“No confirmation of any deaths”, but it is clear that quite a few have died.
The country seems to be very jumpy. Swindon and Brighton railway stations have been shut.
Now they are saying that it resembles the Madrid bombing.
More on the telephone front. Now they are saying that a standard security procedure is control the mobile phone system, because mobile phones are often used to set off bombs.
“About six explosions” and “many casualties”. How many? Don’t know. To give a total number would be “inappropriate”. That from a senior police officer, Sir Ian (sp?) Blair. All of London public transport out of business. Stay calm, and stay where you are. The situation is steadily coming under control. They are pressing him on casualty numbers. Clearly this is a question that these guys have spend many weekends rehearsing not answering.
What is the drill for this stuff, they are asking. It seems to be, talk boringly and rather uninformatively. Do not speculate. Say that there are plans in place which work well. There are two temptations these people have all been trained to resist. One is to speculate about, e.g., numbers of deaths and causes of “incidents”. And the other is the temptation to tell the damn journalists who are repeating their questions for the seventeenth time in the hope of a break to go fuck themselves.
Live television statement on the telly from the Prime Minister at noon.
Now they are saying that there were six blasts. Not nearly as bad as Madrid. The aim was to cause disruption, and they succeeded.
Telephone update. A friend just rang me with her mobile from Winchester, and when we had finished I tried ringing her back. Engaged. She tried ringing lots of people, and got through to some, but the mobile networks don’t seem to be working. A real journalist would have pressed her harder. How many calls did you make? How many were engaged? Did you get through to any mobiles? It would seem that the answers were approximately: I kept trying, mostly couldn’t get through, occasionally did, but not to anyone with a mobile. She said twenty had been “officially confirmed” dead.
The one day 50 overs each cricket international at Headingley, Leeds, between England and Australia is proceeding as normal. I am keeping track of that on Ceefax, which is my preferred cricket news source. (The Twenty20 games are particularly good this way.) Australia 55 without loss after 14 overs. Although, I would not call it normal for Matthew Hayden to be on only 3 after 8 overs, which he was. He is now 12, and Gilchrist is 35.
Thoughts. The mainstream electronic media really come into their own at moments like this. Phone, forget it. Blogs. Which one? How would you know that I was at home, and that I would choose to ramble thus? How do I know who else is?
As for “liveblogging”, I live a quarter hour walk away from Parliament Square, and nothing untoward seems to be going on outside my windows.
Andrew Kinsman: “Islamofascists? I have memories of Rainbow Warrior sunk by and explosion in New Zealand.”
Even though they lost the olympics I doubts its the french !! more seriously your implied suggestion is on balance of probability not likely despite your desire fo it to be so.
Julian Morrison: “NuLabour worries me more than the bomber. They’re bound to take advantage of this. The bombs may have all gone off by now, but the damage has only started. Heads up!”
Absolutely
And finally listenoing to virgin radio (awful I know) they reported the EU confirming it as a terrorsit attack – WTF do they know and since when do they have anything to do with our security ?? But If they do – well more likely we are an open target with that bunch of muppets with any repsonsibility.
My condolences to the British people.
Atacking emergency personnel is “standart” procedure by this bastards, i think it was tried in Madrid too.Hopehope they didnt make like Palestinians that embeded nuts and bolts with rat poison that dont let the blood coagulate.
I’m sitting in number 5 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh – next door to the First Minister’s official residence. It’s been guarded all week until this morning. The police are back now. Strangely, I’ve not heard any police sirens this morning, unlike the last few days when they’ve been very frequent. I’ll be walking home via side streets and keeping well clear of buses.
Quoted from the London Transport Website
“ALL LONDON UNDERGROUND LINES ARE SUSPENDED DUE TO A NETWORK EMERGENCY. LONDON BUSES ARE WITHDRAWN FROM CENTRAL LONDON & DLR SERVICES ARE SUSPENDED.”
It’s a bit of luck I cycle to work
From the somewhat sketchy reports we have so far – obviously it is far too early to speculate on the who’s and why’s – it would seem that there was a concerted effort by Al Queda to cause explosions on the Underground (Edgware Road and Aldgate stations are on the same Circle line) which would in turn drive people onto the buses, and thence into their next phase of terrorism.
Thankfully their best efforts have been thwarted by an intelligent approach to how deal with these animals – notably the immediate blocking of all mobile networks so as to prevent remote detonation of explosives and the immediate clearance of all buses and underground trains. Police have been ordering restaurants and bars in The City to open in order to get people off the streets and avoid crowd buildups but the main test will presumably be later on today when people start to go home on the mainline rail networks.
In the middle of this horror I find some small solace in the knowledge that right now there are a number of very panicky Islamocamelshaggers who realise that their carefully planned bombs are now about to be detected, complete with all fingerprints and any DNA residues …
Chris Walker, via Fox News (on the phone w/ NYC), confirms that BBC have sources in Arab countries saying it is AQ.
Another source confirms twenty dead – a Daily Telegraph reporter in DC.
Remember, this isn’t an attack on your life. It’s an attack against your western lifestyle – against the open society we revel in, most recently for instance with Live8.
I was stunned when I heard the news about this. The people that did this will be far away by now, probably not even in the country. I’d say that timers were used rather than remotely setting things via a mobile phone as a trigger. Somone dialling a trigger phone by mistake could result in Mr Badguy getting vapourised, mores the pity. The scumbags deserve a fate worse than death for doing this.
Sky News (through Fox News in NYC) reports that the Bus (at Adlgate?) with at blown off roof had seated a sucide bomber.
Thus, A Q affiliated, no doubt – NOT ira.
(The Sky source was named as a producer unfamiliar to me – sorry). Seven blasts in all.
Apparently a bomb went off in Swindon as well, dunno if its true though. Such is the rumour flying around the office.
I hope they cut the culprits balls off with a blunt knife.
I hope all Samizdatists are accounted for and safe. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your countrymen.
Redfox
I am live blogging this for people who cannot get onto the Beeb or Sky sites. Neither my phone nor mobile is working (understandably). I think it will be a while before they figure out how many died in the tube attacks. Thank god for IM, the internet and blogging. Hopefully those of us in London using their blog to get info out will help calm people’s nerves who have friends and family here.
“What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible that they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?” – Winston Churchill
RW American’s at http://www.freerepublic.com are already quoting and heralding the steadfastness of ole’ Winston, such as in the line above.
Mobile phone networks have not been blocked.
I’ve just witnessed 3 people in my works canteen (near Tower Bridge) having conversations on their mobiles. If you can’t get through, it’s because several million other Londoners are also trying to use the networks at the same time.
BBC News story about the phones.
Extending my thoughts and prayers to the British people during these chaotic times. My condolences to those innocent lives lost in such a barbaric attack. America stands united with Britain.
NYC, NY
It is so scary what is going on – I do really hope that nothing more will happen – it is too much already.
Do you think this is it – or is there more to come?
Sympathy to London from Copenhagen
Duncan: I live in Westminster and my phone is getting no reception. It makes sense in case the bombs (or at least the bus bomb) was done by mobile remote.
The very best aggregation of the blogoverse I’ve seen – Brits, US visitors, and US – is at http://www.instapundit.com. Check out the fifteen or so links there.
(How does Professor Glenn Reynolds do it?!)
I suspect he has some of his students helping him.
EVEN better is http://www.command-post.org/gwot/
otherwise known as the command post.
Scroll down past the links to news and photos (and a stunner posted there for your edification) for a list of Brit’s blogging:
“London Terror Attacks – London: Blogs with live coverage and ongoing updates
07:00 AM EDT | Posted By Michele Catalano
>> Go here to visit Michele Catalano’s weblog.
Buzz Machine
Guardian news blog
Europhobia
Norm Geras
Tim Worstall
Project Nothing
Three Years of Hell
Robin Grant
Matthew Sheffield
Andrew Ian Dodge
Tinkerty Tonk
WMD
Sean Kinsell
Saw Blair’s short speech on the bus(we have TVs in the buses here). He seemed really shaken, pausing after every third word, but I also thought he was angry about this. This was supposed to be his hour of triumph, having the Olympics in London, hosting the G8 summit. Now, everything has come crashing down. He has got to be hopping mad.
The fundies had better watch out!
TWG
Don’t worry about Blair, TWG, that’s his standard histrionic technique for conveying that he feels the public’s emotion. Inside he’s loving every minute of it as another chance to show himself a leader. He’ll be pissed-off about the bad media clash with the Olympic triumph and the G8 he’s been setting up so carefully, however.
For myself I think the timing could be better too. If we had to have some bombings followed by grand panic–obviously I would prefer neither, but would settle for bombings followed by sane low key reaction–could it not have been arranged before the IOC vote?
Add my name to the condolences and concerns. Are you all OK? A roll call at some point would be appreciated.
here’s something wierd – the opening line of the BBC news 2pm bulletin:
“terrorists have launched a series of coordinated attacks across london”
I guess these genocidal murderers are only called “militants” or “insurgents” when its Israelis and Iraqis who are being murdered.
I am no fan of Blair, but it is at least possible that he _really is_ shaken and upset about an attack on his capital and the deaths of innocent English people.
One of the problems with being a skilful barrister and politician is that people will often disbelieve you even when you are sincere.
Wobbly – I’m down to your second comment and am motivated to reply before finishing reading everyone else’s.
Could you kindly stop your stream of ignorant rubbish?
First you say it was a “brilliant” move by the Islamofascists. What the fuck is brilliant about planting bombs as a warning that they will do the same at some big event? Once someone has reached their teens, they can think along these lines of elementary planning. This is what the IRA did for all those years. This is what ETA did. Warnings. It is not brilliant. It is run-of-the-mill terrorism.
Second, you say you hope the British “don’t roll over”. As far as I’m concerned, for that comment, you should be banned from commenting on Samizdata. Can you name one time in recorded history that the British have “rolled over”? How dare you?
uptight, the BBC is the _British_ Broadcasting Corporation. One would hardly expect it to be neutral with regard to attacks on the British state or people.
“Does this [London] attack mark a new beginning?” of future terrorist attacks elsewhere, like the US?
I’m monitoring Peter Boyles radio talk show in Denver, Colorado – a learned man with many libertarian/classical liberal instincts (though not necessarily in economic terms) – and named a “Top 100” talker by the industry Talker’s magazine. You can listen over the web for almost two more hours at http://khow.com/hosts/peterboyles.html
To the above question, “Yes,” says he – “Yes,” say his local listeners.
He says the terror message of London is “get out of Iraq~” Submit to our will, says AQ.
Boyles notes that penetrating the UK has to be tougher than the US. (He’s gone very right-wing on the immigration issue here, ie, illegal Mexican’s, because of the brutal murder of a policeman by a young illegal.) Actually, ‘yes and no’ – Boyles doesn’t understand that relatively few immigrant Muslims to the US are Arabic. Here they tend to be from Lebanon, Pakistan, India – the fringes of the Muslim world. Of course, not being an island with extensive borders, the US is more vulnerable physically, but our immigrant communities aren’t as friendly as the UKs to terrorists.
Now, there appear to be just three Tube blasts and one on a London bus – not the six or seven as before. 300 injuries. London suicide bomber confirmed by a UK policeman.
But Boyles correctly notes that Afghan Talibaners see democracy as a religion, but they already have their own whic rejects all rivals. And while political wars have peaceful solutions – religious wars do not. Now can we in the West beat a birth rate.
Which is why Bush warns that this, the GWOT, will be a long war – maybe two generations. Too many “True Believers” out there for it to be a short one.
There is much helplessness to experience, today. I’m betting on the attraction of more open (ie, westernized) societies success, having an appeal that outlives the memory of these heinous bombers.
Not to be insensitive, but in response to Verity’s second question, I do remember something about Mr. Chamberlain waving a piece of paper and talking about “peace in our time”…
Verity – ‘Second, you say you hope the British “don’t roll over”. As far as I’m concerned, for that comment, you should be banned from commenting on Samizdata. Can you name one time in recorded history that the British have “rolled over”? How dare you?’
Kind of you to say so, Verity (you are from across the ocean, I think…?) But we are not what we were. We are now the nation of Dianafication not Winston Churchill. I will take pleasure in being proved wrong, however.
“But we are not what we were.”. On the contrary, the British are as they always were. But there are proportionately fewer of them living in the UK than formerly.
>>Second, you say you hope the British “don’t roll over”. As far as I’m concerned, for that comment, you should be banned from commenting on Samizdata. Can you name one time in recorded history that the British have “rolled over”? How dare you?
India.
The British government lacked the Strength of Will to brutally crush all resistance to Imperial Domination (with a few notable exceptions, like Dyer.) Any government serious about maintaining control would have simply liquidated Gandhi and all of his followers, in as public and messy a way as possible. But this didn’t happen.
Edward,
You’re also a nation known for this kind of guys.
My impression (and my hope) is that they could prove you wrong… As far as the Dianaficated don’t get in the way, of course.
“The British government lacked the Strength of Will to brutally crush all resistance to Imperial Domination (with a few notable exceptions, like Dyer.) Any government serious about maintaining control would have simply liquidated Gandhi and all of his followers, in as public and messy a way as possible. But this didn’t happen. ”
Yes of course “not doing what Hitler suggested” equals “rolling over”.
“Not to be insensitive, but in response to Verity’s second question, I do remember something about Mr. Chamberlain waving a piece of paper and talking about “peace in our time”…”
And when appeasement didn’t work. Chamberlain declared war and resigned, Churchill was asked to form a government and the British fought. “Rolling over” would have been, for example, accepting Hess’s peace proposals after the war had started.
Guy Herbert – Agree. “inside he’s really loving it”. This is his best emoting opportunity for years. He will not be off the TV screens for more than three or four minutes at a time. Blair is not shaken (he’s well protected, so has no fear for his own life) and he’s not distressed – except in that it wrecks his moment of glory for the Olympics.
But what the hey! One door closes, another one opens, right? He can slip seamlessly into his role as international warrior against terrorism – manfully controlled emotion, nervous ticks, reassuring and paternal effort to remain calm for our sakes, big time world leader. The role of a lifetime! Better than Diana, even!
Like Julian Morrison, I also fear what Blair will do far more than I fear the terrorists, who will be bested. But all of you who live in Britain are going to have to watch Blair like a hawk, because he’ll try to pull a fast one over this.
Delmore Macnamara
You’re right, I’d expect the bastards to side with the opposition.
Pete, that is funny, but really there _is_ a difference between even the most deranged leftism and actual treason.
T J Madison – I was referring to attacks on Britain, not fights for independence by former far-off colonies and I’m not going to get into a stupid little nitpicking argument with you.
TWG is either ignorant or impertinent. We do not need anyone to advise us to defend our country.
It’s entirely possible the bomb on the bus was a miscalculation – or sheer doziness on the part of the Islamoscum who did this. It may have been a cowardly member whose nerve failed and abandoned the device on a bus.
However we should not give them more credit than they deserve. They are not geniuses just because they play dirty. Random planting of bombs, even a “co-ordinated” attack as it’s called, is still a lottery against defenceless civilians – they would hardly dare going against a real target.
Will Britain change course? Will we submit to those who hate freedom? I don’t think so.
Edward Lud – What does my physical location have to do with anything? Because I’m not there, I’m not qualified to comment as a Briton? Could you let us know who is qualified to comment on this blog about things British, please?
Delmore MacNamara – exactly. Pete_London, yes, that was funny!
The really horrifying thing is, the Met is under the control of Sir Ian Multiculti-Touchyfeely. Who knows what he will be motivated to do?
Situation here seems OK now. I’m in Swindon and earlier today a package was detonated under controlled circumstances by police at the railway station.
“Millitants” kill Jews, Iraqis, and Americans
“Terrorists” kill Britons.
“The religion of peace”…what a crock of s***!
Time to tighten our borders, big time.
Blair’s speech was fine. He said the sort of things any leader would say in similar circumstances and probably said it better. I couldn’t tell whether he sounded emotional or angry, but either would have been OK. The important point was that he emphasised its business as usual.
Some people will have lost loved ones and Im going to have a bugger of a time getting to Gatwick tonight. But in the overall scheme of things, what’s happened will make no difference to anything. Psychopathic nutters blowing up bits of London never has and never will. I really cant see there being any change in our attitude to the WOT, or the wretched ID cards proposals. Everything will be just the same as it was yesterday.
The timing is all wrong. Blair’s difficulties over Iraq are past him now; British commitment there will be entirely unaffected. Blair’s personal standing is higher now than it has been for any time since the war began, and he is unlikely to feel any pressure over the issue of Iraq.
My personal response to this is a sympathetic shrug – syampthy for those who have suffered, but a shrug towards any “analysis” of what this “means”. It is a destructive terrorist act, it means nothing more than what we choose to interpret it as. Personally, I see it as a petulant lashing out, communicating no more than the kicking and screaming of a small child, lacking the words and understanding to express anything more. We should pay it no more attention than that.
>>>”And when appeasement didn’t work. Chamberlain declared war and resigned, Churchill was asked to form a government and the British fought. “Rolling over” would have been, for example, accepting Hess’s peace proposals after the war had started.”
Point taken.
TJ Madison: You think Gandhi was a terrorist? Can’t you see the difference between violence and non-violence? I thought it was fairly obvious.
The British ‘rolled over’ for Hong Kong too. I wish they had held a plebescite for the Hongkies to give China the middle finger, but they didn’t.
As for hoping the British remain steadfast… I don’t know, but the noises against the Iraq participation indicates that they didn’t care or recognise the scope of the conflict. Perhaps I’m wrong, and this is the wake up call.
I won’t put it past the peaceniks to claim that the bombings were caused by British actions though.
TWG
As you no doubt know, I am in Manhattan at the moment; Perry and Adriana are also away from London and off the net..
As to these few pitiful bombs and the sad casualties… the perpetrators simply do not understand England. The full might of the Luftwaffe failed to shut London down. The only thing AQ can hope to accomplish is to get London p*ss*d *ff.
Interesting to read some of the vile comments on this post and I wonder if these same commenters drivelled a similar kind of bile on 11th September 2001. Right now we have over 40 dead and hundreds wounded. The police have NO knowledge right now as to whether these were suicide bombers or otherwise (Met DAC on press conf right now on BBC 1).
As for the earlier comment the police did confirm that they shut off all Central London cell links as a part of their standard procedure when dealing with incidents such as this but would not elaborate on the point.
Yay! trains are running to Gatwick already. It must be awfull for the relatives of those who have died or who are missing, but for most of London all the psycho wankers have achieved is a few hours irritation.
I am now home. Getting here from Canary Wharf was not as bad as I feared it might be. I walked to Lewisham, and from there I was able to get a bus home. I felt a certain trepidation in getting on a London bus, but the alternative was walking for two or three more hours, so I caught the bus.
I have spoken to Jonathan Pearce on the phone. He was on the tube and only two stations from Liverpool Street when the bomb went off there. Another of my friends alighted from a train at King’s Cross only a few minutes before the attack there. But I thankfully I know of none of my friends being injured or killed.
TWG – You seem to be unable to distinguish between our native soil and our former distant possessions. Anyone with any plans for invading Britain during the last 1,000 years has been seen off in a very decisive manner.
Verity – “Edward Lud – What does my physical location have to do with anything? Because I’m not there, I’m not qualified to comment as a Briton? Could you let us know who is qualified to comment on this blog about things British, please?”
Clearly I failed to express myself as lucidly as I might have wished. My point was not to comment on your qualifications for making observations about Britons so much as to claim that in my view we are no longer the kind of nation that you had depicted in your prior post. Since, from previous days, I have gained the impression that you are American or Canadian, I said that I thought your impression of us was ‘kind’. If you are a Briton living over there, that adjective would clearly not apply.
In either event you will be proven right or wrong (and I hope you are proven right), but on a re-reading of my first post I cannot understand what construction of my words leads you to the conclusion that I seek to restrict comment on matters British to those of us living here.
The dissident frogman – well, yes. And yes. Let us hope.
OK, Edward Lud. Thanks. This affects me as much as it does you.
>>TJ Madison: You think Gandhi was a terrorist? Can’t you see the difference between violence and non-violence? I thought it was fairly obvious.
Indeed. Non-violence is a much more dangerous threat to State control of a territory. Had Gandhi attempted to use violence, it would have been far easier for the British government to perpetrate the atrocities necessary to retain India. Gandhi’s appeal to ideas like “human decency” were instrumental in the success of his rebellion.
One of the more laughable aspects of Al Qaeda is that they clearly don’t understand terrorism properly. Terrorism is an effective weapon in the hands of the strong, not the weak. State terrorism can be quite effective and very popular (e.g. Hiroshima). Small unit terrorism is much less effective and can generate serious backlash (e.g. The Events of This Morning).
Now, Al Qaeda might be able to shove England several steps closer to a total police state, but that isn’t going to help them win. It’s also not too bright for Al Qaeda to risk provoking anti-Muslim pogroms in England (at least until “their side” has numerical superiority.) Strategically, this morning’s terrorism was evidence of the willful stupidity present in most Islamic terrorists.
What a windfall for the government. ID Cards Bill and the Religious Hatred Bill are only going to gain from this, all for irrational reasons.
I was planning to go to London today, to go to King’s Cross to engage in something which these Muslim fundamentalists arseholes seem unable to do: learn and think. Thankfully, I stayed at home.
Hope everyone can get home without problems. My heart goes out to the victims of this evil act.
Thoughts and prayers to all the Britons from Chicago, Illinois.
Sad to see the subhumans working in your country as well. Amazed by the calm and determined resolve shown by you folks in the face of this primitive savagery- yet another reason to respect and admire the people of the UK.
Believe the AQ nimrods just made a huge mistake- history shows that it’s never wise to pull on the British bulldog’s tail, and those dopes just gave it a real tug. As they say round here, “oh- it’s ON now.”
Somebody up the thread said:
“I won’t put it past the peaceniks to claim that the bombings were caused by British actions though..”
Notice that ghoul Galloway is already trying to profit from this misery- sickening and pathetic.
Stand tall, be strong, and don’t let them psychos get you down.
>>Sad to see the subhumans working in your country as well. Amazed by the calm and determined resolve shown by you folks in the face of this primitive savagery- yet another reason to respect and admire the people of the UK.
Primitive, subhuman savagery, eh? I assume next that you’ll claim that men such as Arthur Harris, Winston Churchill, Curtis LeMay, etc. were subhuman primitive savages — since they were involved in the murder of several orders of magnitude more innocent civilians.
No, I’m afraid that today’s mayhem was all too human. Perhaps now might be a good time to google up “Son of Al Qaeda” and learn a bit more about our enemy.
Verity you’re not the only one who finds TWG’s juvenile babble cringe inducing. You have to understand, he’s from Singapore, where wannabe intellectual kids with mal-developed political worldviews think they’re clever just because their peers are even more hopeless with respect to matters intellectual. So he makes pithy, smartalecky remarks in an effort to appear smart while conversing with his western interlocutors.
He thinks he’s ‘engaging’. Ignore the embarrassment.
TWG, a year ago you were posting here and I made the exact same observation. I mean you display an almost adolescent inferiority complex by going out of your way to intimate that public buses in singapore have tvs. Good grief man. Positively infantile. Worrying that you haven’t matured in all that time.
My condolences to all in the UK and anyone else who may have had family or friends amongst the lost. Horror and grief were uppermost in my emotions today.
Very, very sorry.
It remains to be seen if Verity is proven right, if the British will stand strong instead of pandering to those who’d rather hold hands and look at ‘root causes’. I’m not the only one expressing doubt, and I apologise for the offense.
The aftermath is usually not a good indicator of resolve. The politicians will make all the usual noises, show some anger, and then everything goes back to normal. Let’s hope this is not the case this time round.
give them rope-I bow to your obviously superior intellectual ability by discerning my true motives. I’m glad I’m not the only one with snide remarks to make. Your observation of folks here is nevertheless very true. Oh well.
BTW, anybody notice TJ’s comparison of WW2 events and people with 7/7? That was low.
TWG
TJ:
Suppose I can see your point re: Churchill, LeMay, etc. Don’t like it, but it’s valid.
Also agreed on the “know thine enemy” premise.
Be strong, good luck and good hunting.