Sunday 1 July 2007

Terrorism in the UK

We've had a bad week. And that doesn't even consider the pandemic flooding all over the north of England.

Tony Blair's alliance with George Bush has put this country in grave danger. And the threat persists.

I was lucky to not have been anywhere near London when the 7/7 attacks were launched. But we have friends and family (Marc's cousins) who both live and work in London. And whilst no one was injured we were all psychologically impacted.

I still have a wee bit of anxiety when I get on the tube or a bus in London. The trouble is that I do both of these things with my children. They love the excitement of transportation. Whenever we have days out scheduled we use public transportation because it is so much more convenient and responsible. Have you ever tried to park in London? A day's parking can cost well over £30 ($60). Now I just hold my breath and close my eyes and hope for the trip to end soon.

In the last week 2 car bombs have been found in central London. One of the cars had even been towed away for being parked illegally. The vigilance of ordinary people on the street led to the discovery of the suspicious car in Haymarket. And some out of the box thinking led to the discovery of the bomb in the car that had been towed away (unfortunately to a more dangerous location than where it had originally been parked). Luckily, the bombs did not detonate and no one was injured.

These plotters are not the most clever of terrorists I would hazard. I mean everyone knows you don't park illegally in London any more than you do in New York City. They parked these cars at 2 am. Did they think no one would spot them in the deserted city streets before the start of the morning rush hour? Haven't they ever met a London traffic warden? No? Then they are not from around here! And they haven't lived here long (if at all).

All this goes with the territory of living in London. Remember London had been the target of terrorist bombings for years during the "Northern Ireland Troubles". There were never any rubbish bins in the underground or on the city streets for fear that these would be used for locating bombs. When my husband used to travel as a member of the school cadets (like boy scouts with a military bent) when he was 14 or so, they had to travel in civilian clothes so as not to be targeted by earnest terrorists. Some would have chosen to stay home. Today, most would. But not the British. They just adapted and carried on.

Yesterday's car bomb was driven into the front of the Glasgow airport. Luckily, no one was injured (unless you count the bombers and I don't). It merely the disrupted the flow of travelers trying to escape the grey, rainy, dreary June weather.

Glasgow is far away from London. And it is in Scotland. The Scottish, whilst British, are not English and hence, imagine themselves somewhat immune from the terrorist threat. No one needed to remind them yesterday that our new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown is Scottish. I mean very Scottish. Mr. Brown is only one of 4 educated Prime Ministers that didn't got to Oxford or Cambridge. The Right Hounorable Mr. Brown went to the University of Edinburgh. Unlike, Mr Blair, who although he was born in Scotland, immediately left for south of the border. Does anyone think this has anything at all to do with the airport explosion yesterday?

Only the terrorists know. What I do know is that it won't stop me from traveling into London. The 7/7 bombs did. I experienced extreme forms of anxiety (shortness of breath, pounding and accelerated heart rate) in the aftermath of the 7/7 attacks. I didn't take my children into London for almost a year. And when we did go after that we avoided trains, buses and the underground.

But it won't happen again. Not the attacks. I'm sure there will be more of those. But my fear will not win. And the terrorists will not win.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad no major injuries. There should be a banner / advertisement by every attempted attack:

Sponsored by the "Religion of Peace".

LaDawn said...

Indeed!

Anonymous said...

Just caught something else you said. So the attacks this weekend in London were George Bush's fault? Unbelievable!

Assuming its Al Queda, and its looking that way based on the reports, how about actually blaming the terrorists? Islamofacism? I just saw a report saying one of the attackers yelled "Allah, Allah!" during his attempt to kill in the name of the "Religion of Peace"

The people who engineered these attacks I gorrontee wanted to kill as many westerners as possible. The crime wasn't George Bush, it isn't the UK's fault...the crime is being a christian / western nation. Regardless of Iraq, George Bush or the USA they want you and your family dead. Yet most liberals think we need to negotiate with them...

How do you begin a negotiation with someone who wants you dead? Say.. maybe kill half of us? Or perhaps take a limb? Maybe not kill us this year, we'll surrender in five years. Or just take Isreal perhaps....

Sickening...Mohammed is the number two name in London Now...remember that article?

Anonymous said...

Just found an interesting article on the Mayor of London.

Summary:
London Mayor Ken Livingstone called on Britons Saturday not to demonize Muslims after a double car bomb plot was foiled in the capital...…”In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends than non-Muslims,” he told BBC Radio. “They have played a good and active and growing role in creating a multi-cultural society,” he added.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/200706
30/tuk-britain-attacks-mayor-saudi-
muslims-a7ad41d.html

Viva Londonistan!

JMarie said...

Maybe too warm and fuzzy, but he's got to keep order on the streets. What was he supposed to say? "Okay everybody...grab your billy clubs and start whackin' anybody who 'looks' muslim! Go get 'er done!"? Nawwwww...that sounds too much like something you'd hear in, say, Florida.

JMarie said...

Ann Coulter would just say she wishes he was killed by the terrorists.

Shirley said...

Thank you LaDawin for writing about this -- I appreciate getting your own perspective -- something outside our own news media here.

Anonymous said...

Just like Bill Mahr said the world would be better off if Cheney were killed by terrorists. She was responding to an attack from Elizabeth Edwards doing the dirty work for her cowardly husband (the first female president if elected).

Anonymous said...

I agree, you don't want to form lynch mobs but I would not have pandered to them either.

The problem is, IMHO, the over compensation of political correctness. Everyone is a victim of something, unless you are white or american. Let's reason with a people who want to destroy the western way of life. Let's go out of our way to assure the masses who probably support the attacks to "don't worry, we love you"..

The data shows (I'll look it up to back this claim) that 90% of all followers of the "religion of piece"in the UK don't see themselves as Britians, simply muslim or arab. I believe about 60% said the 7/7 bombings were justified. So why don't we let muslim women take drivers license photo's with niqab's while we are at it.

Another example from Friday, on the very day of the first thwarted car bomb attack the US supreme court agrees to hear a case in potentially granting a Club Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay) combatant Habeous Corpus.

Janell said...

I’m really glad that you and your’s are safe and sound after the attempted attack in UK, but I have to go with Joe on this one. We are all in grave danger because there is a group of people who wants us to die. President Bush and Tony Blair took the defensive actions they felt were necessary. This new terroristic warfare has put all of us on the front lines, but it is not the fault of the leader of any country except the ones who are providing personnel and space for terrorist training camps. If we can’t defend ourselves by going after the people who are doing this, just how do we do it? Islamofascists have made it very clear that negotiations are not an option.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Janell. You can be vigilant without being a vigilante.
How did you know my first name?

Anonymous said...

and will you marry me? (only if I wasn't married)...

Janell said...

I've been visiting here and reading your comments from day one. No, I won't marry you - I'm already married to LaDawn's cousin. I'll invite you to my blog, but you might find it a bit boring - I don't do a lot of sociology or politics, yet. LaDawn has a link to it over on the left.

Anonymous said...

It was a hypothetical proposal anyway, but I appreciate you turning me down...

I will check it out, it can't be anymore boring than LaDawn's(he he). Because I know Adrian and Leah are reading this, my loyalties lie with Casaherrera, but always willing to check out what you have.

You don't have to have be a political blog for me to visit, family stuff is good to, but there is nothing to chat about on those topics. I see the pics. I say "nice pics" and that's pretty much the end of it...

My favorite (uggghhhh.. second favorite) is MichelleMalkin.com. That's all political and current events.

Got to get back to work. Have a busy afternoon "cutting heads".

LaDawn said...

Why do they want us to die?

Janell said...

They want us to die because they consider us infidels. An infidel is anyone who is not a Muslim. there are numerous chapters in the Koran declaring this to be one of the "Pillars of Islam." I believe there are five pillars. I'd have to look it up to give you specific references.

Anonymous said...

Well Said Janell...I'd look it up in my Koran, but I think I flushed it. But let me summarize the pillar.

"Convert to the religion of peace or die"

Your crime is christianity, you must be converted by the sword.