Tag Archives: Terrorism

Fears

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A quote from a Johann Hari post, via Digby:

But another fight began yesterday: to defend our civil liberties ? and especially those of the decent, democratic Muslim majority ? in an age of terror. I headed for the East London Mosque ? a few minutes? walk away from the bomb in Aldgate ? to watch afternoon prayers. Chairman Mohammed Bari said, ?Only yesterday, we celebrated getting the Olympics for our city and our country. But a terrible thing happened in our country this morning? Whoever has done this is a friend of no-one and certainly not a friend of Muslims. The whole world will be watching us now. We must give a message of peace.? Everybody in attendance agreed; many headed off to the Royal London Hospital to give blood. But they were afraid the message would not get out: several people were expecting attacks on the mosque tonight.

From the media, it seems to representative of British muslim reactions in general. And quite understandably so.

There ar really several questions here: a) will there be harassment and violence now, in the wake of the attack, b) the long term negative impact n inter-ethic relations, b) will civil liberties be (further) curtailed.

As for b and c, based on the admirably non-hysterical response by the public so far, I’m cautiously optimistic. Cautiously. As for a, it only takes a few racist scumbags, doesn’t it? Regardless of how decent the general population may hypothetically be. But maybe it won’t get really horrifically bad, seeing as I haven’t seen any really serious incidents serious happened in the first night. Or did I miss them.

Guardian reports on the backlash:

At the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, worshippers said passersby had shouted abuse and rattled the entrance gates in the hours after yesterday’s bombings.

Within hours of the attacks police forces across the country were sent advice from the Association of Chief Police Officers on how to counter any backlash.

Forces are supposed to make contact with “vulnerable communities”, in this case Muslims, and react quickly and robustly to incidents of hate crime.

There are two fundamental aims, to keep Muslims safe, then to ensure there is the maximum chance that those with information about the planning of the attacks have the confidence and trust in the police to come forward.

Input from people who know what they’re talking about would be good.

(I’d also like to hear what the long term and short term reaction was after 3/11. It’s not necessarily hugely relevant, but interesting in itself.)

It’s perhaps a phrase that’s lost all meaning, or never had one, but I’d say if bigotry prevails, the terrorism will in some real sense have won.

Blair Points The Finger

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Tony Blair tonight indicated that in his opinion the bombings were the work of Islamic radicals. I – and I suppose most other people – had reached a somewhat similar conclusion, but since Tony has access to police and forensic material, his opinion may be worth a bit more than mine is. This would seem to give rather more credence to this earlier report. Whilst London’s Olympic victory does form a backdrop, the fact it was a surprise result makes it unlikely to have been a prime mover for the attack. It is hard to imagine an operation which was this complicated being set-up just on the off-chance. The G8 obviously seems to form a much bigger part of the picture. And I had forgotten entirely about this, until reading Juan Cole woke me up to the possible connection. The trial started on Tuesday.

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has appeared in court at the start of his trial on terrorism charges. The 47-year-old, who denies any involvement in terrorism, has been held at Belmarsh prison since May 2004.

Butt-Out Putin

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Vladimir Putin is a guest on UK soil today as a participant in the G8 summit, in which case he should behave like a guest, respect and follow the local customs, and refrain from trying to use this tragedy to push his own political agenda.

“But what happened today demonstrates yet again that we are doing too little to unite our efforts in the most effective way in the battle against terrorism,” he said.

He also called for an end to double standards ? an appeal he has made before to his fellow world leaders, some of whom he has criticized for underestimating the terrorist ties of Chechen separatist rebels.

Putin expressed “not only hope but also certainty” that the international community will do everything it can to confront terrorism, but stressed there must not be “any double standards whatsoever in assessing bloody crimes similar to those carried out today in London.”

There are many things which could be said about what has happened in London today, but the above is not one of them. Let me be (given my own views and values) terribly politically incorrect: as Condoleeza Rice said, “we have to get it right every day, they only have to get it right once”. Maybe there were questions about whether or not the US was sufficiently prepared for ‘new style’ international terrorism before 09/11, certainly there are such questions about Spain and 03/11, but is anyone seriously suggesting that the UK police and security services haven’t been totally focused on trying to prevent this kind of tragedy. So, number one I resent the insinuation, and number two I resent any attempt to use this to drag the UK into the scandalous war Putin has been waging in Chechenia.

The dead are not only not yet cold, they are not even counted. Again chosing a voice I would not normally identify with, I can only re-iterate this point from Tim Worstall:

“May I just remind you of one of those little rules that we have in our civilised society? We bury the dead and console the bereaved before we start making asinine political points.”

Bus Bomb May Have Been Intended For Tube

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Brian Paddick, assistant deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police has just explained to a press conference that the bomb which exploded on a London bus in Woburn place may have gone off early.

“British police said a bomb that blew the roof off a London double-decker bus on Thursday morning may have been destined for the capital’s underground network, which was rocked by three explosions earlier.

“The fourth bomb may have been intended for an underground train,” Brian Paddick, the assistant deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police told a press conference.

The bus blast occurred about an hour after the first underground explosion. At least 33 people were confirmed dead from the blasts in the capital. ”

I’m not *sure* what we can deduce from this conjecture on the part of a senior police officer, although lots of possibilities are flying round my head.

London Update V

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As the dust settles, more and more of the details become clearer. The BBC have a good summary of three tube station bombs and the bus bomb (thanks for link to perfect.co.uk). The three tube bombings were on the Picadilly line between Kings Cross and Russell Square, at Edgware Road station, and in a tunnel at 100 metres from Liverpool Street. The bus was in Woburn Place.

The Independent also has a good summary, as does the Financial Times.

Updated 16:15 UK time

Interestingly one of the ‘strange ingredients’ has just been explained: the sudden power surge story. Neil McIntosh at Guardian blog gives the story behind the facts from London Tube boss Tim O’Toole:

Tube boss Tim O’Toole says the sudden succession of blasts caused the earlier “power surge” rumours – the tube control room thought that was the only thing that could cause such a co-ordinated set of failures across the network. In fact, the tube’s power supply is intact – they could run a full service now, although that’s not likely to happen for some time yet. He also says he’s enormously proud of his staff, who “did a difficult job and did it well”.

Update IV

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Update (16:35 CET):

London’s mobile phone network is overloaded and spotty. The police is asking people not to call unless it’s important.

AP:

Two U.S. law enforcement officials said at least 40 people were killed and London hospitals reported more than 350 wounded. A senior police official confirmed at least 33 deaths killed in the subway blasts.
[...]
“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.

Update: The most current death toll number appears to be 45 (Guardian.) I predict it will steadily rise for some days, and then steadily fall for some weeks. The final number is unknowable, but that very, very many are injured appears fairly certain.

Update: From Wikipedia:

HOTLINE NUMBERS:

* Metropolitan Police: 020 7766 6020 (UK) +44 20 7766 6020 (INT’L)
* British Transport Police: 020 8358 0101 (UK) +44 (0) 20 8358 0101 (INT’L)

Don’t call the emergency services unless in “Life threatening” circumstances.

The Metropolitan Police advises against all unnecessary travel within the Capitol.

Original entry:
Guardian Newsblog:

Suddenly, the terrible scale of today’s attack becomes clear. Ambulance sources, reported on Sky, suggest 23 people have been killed at King’s Cross, nine at Edgware road, seven at Aldgate, two at Russell Square. There are hundreds – possibly more than a thousand – injured. We’re trying to verify the numbers.

The numbers 45 (Guardian) and 44 (Sky) have also been bandied about. No numbers are solid at all.
Daniel Johnson in email to Europhobia ( a while ago):

However there does seem to be a bit of a paradoxical thing happening. The broadcasters are holding back – reluctant to report news and instead focusing on reporting on the good work of the emergency services (from eye witness accounts and personally talking to people on the phone, the services are doing a great job and we should be incredibly proud). So they’re very calm- but the public is spinning the rumour mill.. before long I’m sure we’ll get IRA rumours, G8 rebels, etc- we should take comfort in the fact that the leaders of the free world are all together in a room, our emergency services are doing an amazing job – and the majority of scare-mongering rumours appear to be just that.

Its good to be sceptical of rumors, and not spread hysteria.

Nosemonkey said at 13:01 “God, us Brits are great. Hardly any panic – more just getting pissed off that it’s going to be a bugger getting home. I love this country sometimes.”