London isn’t a stranger to bombings. But, this is the hammer that London has been waiting to fall since 9.11. I was in London that day. Browsing bookstores mindlessly. I attended the ceremony in Trafalgar Square and cried with, what seemed like, the entire population of London.
We can wait for the inevitable proof that some splinter/offshoot of al-Qaeda did this. They have a set script. Same banal demands to retreat or convert. Organizational names that can only have been dreamed up by closet bureaucrats [Secret Organization group al Qaeda Organization in Europe, indeed.].
I thought The Chosen One said we are fighting them there so that we don’t have to fight them here.
But, there will be time enough for all that. For now, my thoughts and prayers are with my people in London. Rob has a post that you should read.
update: Thabet wondered, in the comments, how US was covering this. By US he didn’t mean FOX and by coverage he didn’t mean this [via boingboing]:
Also, please read Caleb’s post.
update 2: So I picked up a copy of Chicago Sun Times. The WWII-VDAY size headline screams BARBARIC, under it the number of casualties etc. Below is the Blair quote: “They are trying to use the slaughter of innocent people to cow us”. Hmmm. I am extremely sorry but “slaughter” and “cow” in the same sentence just makes different cognitive connections. Inside are not one, not two, not three but four columns and one editorial cartoon about the “British stiff upper lip”. Wankers. Next is a whole lot of coverage on Chicago’s CTA’s vulnerabilities. Fun. A random headline that tells me that “jelly-like creatures have their own red-light district”. What in Allah’s ninety-nine names does that mean? Moving on. Neil Steinberg has a column titled It’s just an illusion: We’re not any safer in which he opines: “We don’t get the truth. We get brain-dead TV commentators saying, again and again, that this attack “shows how vulnerable a modern society is.” Compared to what? Pre-modern society? Weren’t they vulnerable to every neighboring tribe with bigger sticks? Don’t semi-modern societies such as India manage to send buses packed with pilgrims hurtling into deep gorges every six months without any help at all from al-Qaida?”. Ahem. Will buy the Tribune for lunch and keep you all updated. I don’t watch news on TV.
thabet July 8, 2005 at 6:22 am
I’ve always wondered how people behind such attacks conjure these names up. Perhaps they all share an algorithm that generates an appropriate name based on a few simple inputs?
Name: Abu Yusuf; Location: Western Europe; Preferred Islamic Terminology: Din and Shaheed; Preferrance for Military Terminology: Yes; Affiliated with Al-Q: Yes. And hey presto, we have the Abu Yusuf Martyrs Brigade For Defence of Religion Al-Qai’da Organisation in Europe.
Hmmmm… there’s one of those “What type are you” quiz in all this…
More seriously, I would be interested in how the USofA is covering this?
thbt July 8, 2005 at 6:23 am
Oh, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
salaams
Morcy July 8, 2005 at 10:27 am
There’s more about the coverage on FOX here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/8/2458/31146
That post is built from the quote represented visually in the CM post.
I have a feeling for how jingoistically this is going to get played in the US—with the overriding idea that this is somehow proof that we need to redouble our efforts in Iraq—that I’m avoiding all news coverage.
Luke July 8, 2005 at 2:48 pm
Does your sarcasm about the name of the rag and bone outfit who have already claimed responsibility imply that it was not an extremist Islamic cell who carried out the attacks? Perhaps it was a set up by Mossad or the CIA?
British-Pakistanis have already carried out suicide bombings around the world. An article on why you think British born Pakistanis are resorting to a fascistic ideology and carry out acts of random and blood-curdling violence in the name of Islam would be interesting to read, one that does not blame the Jews, America, racism, or any of those other chimeras, but actually examines the impulse to violence within a certain school of Qutb-Maududi inspired Islam being taught and lapped up in Britain in Pakistani mosques and ghettoes. It will not surprise me if the men who carried this out were British Pakistani University graduates from Bradford, Birmingham or London.
Qadeer Ahmad Rana July 8, 2005 at 8:03 pm
We have created Word’s First Complete Urdu Forum. Please join this at
http://www.urduweb.org/mehfil/
sepoy July 9, 2005 at 12:45 am
Luke: “Does your sarcasm about the name of the rag and bone outfit who have already claimed responsibility imply that it was not an extremist Islamic cell who carried out the attacks? Perhaps it was a set up by Mossad or the CIA?” No. It was done by whomsoever did it. I don’t have any notions or ideas. Let the investigation resolve that.