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Thursday, July 07, 2005
Multiple explosions rock London
As an American based blogger, I won't have too much to say about what will clearly be the biggest news item for some time to come: the multiple explosions in London this morning. I'll recap local coverage below, but I want to offer two thoughts right off the bat. First, our leaders need to stop lying to us. Here's Tony Blair:
It is important that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world.
Whoever committed these horrible acts -- and there's nothing but guessing going on now -- had a motive. Karl Rove not so long ago derided liberals for wanting to understand the motivations of terrorists. I suppose that makes Tony Blair an ineffectual liberal hand-wringer in Karl Rove's book. More importantly, however, if these bombings are the acts of Islamic fundamentalists, whether al Qaeda or a similar group, let's recall that the primary aim of such groups is not to impose extremism on the world. Rather, these groups want to drive the United States and our allies out of the Middle East in order that they may impose extremism on their corner of the world. There's no reason for Blair to exaggerate the very real threat of Islamic terror, other than to keep people from questioning whether the government is acting in the interest of the governed.
Around 9:00 a.m. local time, a series of explosions ripped through London. The BBC reports 2 killed and hundreds injured in four bombings. ITV reports 20 dead. Other reports indicate 6 or 7 explosions. One website has posted an unconfirmed statement that al Qaeda is responsible for the attacks. BBC reporter Gordon Corera expects to see more claims of responsibility from other groups.
The London subways and bus services are shut down. People have been warned to avoid traveling into London. Tony Blair is returning to London from the G8 meetings in Scotland, but plans to return to the talks tonight.
Blood supplies are good, but this should be a reminder to us all to donate blood if you can.
Photos are here. Wikipedia article is here.
More from Blair:
There are obviously casualties, both people who have died and people who are seriously injured, and our thoughts and prayers, of course, are with the victims and their families.
It is my intention to leave the G8 within the next couple of hours and go down to London and get a report face-to-face with the police and the emergency services and the ministers who have been dealing with this and then to return later this evening.
It is the will of all the leaders of the G8, however, that the meeting should continue in my absence, that we should continue to discuss the issues that we were going to discuss and reach the conclusions that we were going to reach.
Each of the countries round that table have some experience of the effects of terrorism and all the leaders, as they will indicate a little bit later, share our complete resolution to defeat terrorism.
It is particularly barbaric that this has happened on a day when people are meeting to try to help the problems of poverty in Africa and the long term problems of climate change and the environment.
Here we are in perfect agreement with Blair. America and our allies must unite against international terrorism and prosecute its destruction with focus and urgency. We must implement the most effective safeguards and deterrents. We must be flexible and adapt our tactics to changing situations and information. We must recognize that committed people of good will are ready to stand fast in the face of terror, even when they disagree on the means to defend one another from it. We must be honest with ourselves and our friends throughout the world.
Freedom will prevail in this struggle. Men and women around the world have laid down their lives for the freedom to govern themselves, speak their minds, and worship as best they know how. No atrocity will ever extinguish the yearning to be free.
I'll close with a final suggestion. In the United States, we celebrate the 4th of July as Independence Day. The anniversary, not so much of a nation's birth, but of a nation's adulthood. Although we talk much of freedom on Independence Day, freedom and independence are critically different. I hope one day that men, women, and children around the world will be able to celebrate a Freedom Day. A day where we commemorate how deeply we treasure our freedoms and recognize our triumphs in balancing one neighbor's freedoms against another's.
5 Comments:
I don't believe Tony Blair's message to the terrorists is that their actions will have no effect on how Britons live their lives. The motivation of terrorist are clear-- to infect nations with fear so that political policies will change. It's not about understanding the terrorist's goals its about the liberal penchant to offer understanding to the terrorists-- and to blame America for what the terrorists do.
I disagree with your statement that the islamist extremists want only to dominate the middle east. But even if they did, are you saying it is okay for women to have to wear Burkas and not go to school?; that is okay that is legal to kill your wife over almost anything? The only way to stop this madness is to encourage democracy and freedom in the middle east. It is a noble goal.
By 
, at
9:02 PM
"Offer understanding to the terrorists"? Come on Sean! Hammer tells me you're an honest and decent guy and I tend to take his word on that sort of thing but to pretend that wanting to understand terrorists is the same thing as "offering understanding to them" is disingenuous enough to be a Rush quote. I'm guessing you're smart enough to not have to stoop to attacking liberal strawmen. And far be it from me to quote a right wing crank like Robert Heinlein but I seem to remember a line from one of his books (I read a bunch of them in my younger days) along the lines of "Remember your enemy is never evil in his own mind. This may allow you to make him your friend. If not, it allows you to kill him quickly and without hatred." We're certainly not going to make friends with any of these guys but to not even try to understand them is to fight with one hand tied behind our back. Even if understanding their hatred only allows us to better predict when and where they might strike it is worth doing. Only in Bush's America would knowing less about an enemy be preferable to knowing more.
Sean: I agree with the last part, that it's a noble goal to promote democracy and freedom in the middle east. I think that if Bush & Blair would be honest about such a goal, people would follow them. Bush & Blair obviously do not believe that people would be inspired by such noble goals, which is why they fall back on misrepresenting terrorist goals.
I am reading this in my "Club Gitmo" bathrobe...just kidding.
I don't think it is disingenious to state that some liberals want to offer understanding, (i.e. sympathy)to terrorists. The liberals of Michael Moore's ilk want to blame America for this problem instead of putting the blame squarely where it belongs. Some want to open a dialogue and start negotiations. How ridiculous. These people are honorless animals. Even the IRA only hit political targets. They never hit mass transit.
Again, the two tiered approach. Exterminate as many full fledged terrorists as possible by whatever means possible; and try to change the hearts of minds of young muslims through outreach and aid. Our efforts in Africa and to the countries hit by the Tsunami are good start.
By , at
8:04 PM
Michael Moore is extremely critical of the Bush administration. Believe it or not, it's possible to be extremely critical of Bush and still be a patriot in the best sense of the word.
Explaining where terrorists come from is not an attempt to blame America. It's critical knowledge so that we don't repeat the same mistakes.
By the way, the some people who want to open a dialogue with the terrorists include Donald Rumsfeld. Guess you better add him to your blame America first list.
