![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() Just Above Sunset
July 10, 2005 - What to Say?
|
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||||
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
The only news Thursday
was from London – Four blasts rocked the
London subway and tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday, killing dozens in well-coordinated
attacks that experts and British officials said bore the signature of al-Qaida. … The first real hurricane
of the season is moving in, sharks are still biting people, that pretty blond girl is still missing in Aruba, oil is staying
above sixty dollars a barrel and the chief economist at Goldman Sachs sees over a hundred dollars a barrel as likely (December options are running around eighty), that New York Times reporter is now in jail for not saying who knows
what, the reporter who printed the name of the CIA agent and destroyed her cover and her career is still a star on CNN, the
man who master-minded the deal to "get" a fellow who embarrassed the president with the truth is still somewhere in the administration,
and may be the president's top advisor - but the story Thursday is London. LEFT: So much for
"We're winning the war on terror," and "Let's fight the terrorists in Iraq so we don't fight them at home." That's about it. But Kevin Drum over at the Washington Monthly, in a post with a photo of the Union Jack at half-mast
is a bit put off – If I could have one small
wish for today, it would be for the blogosphere on both left and right to refrain from political point scoring over the London
attacks. Just for a day. Isn't tomorrow soon enough to return to our usual arguments? No. Apparently not. So, we're fighting the
terrorists in Iraq - and London - so we won't have to fight them here? Harsh? Well, Bush did say, "We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them
in the streets of our own cities." Bush's latest rationale
for maintaining the course in Iraq adventure has been the "flypaper strategy" - it's better to fight the terrorists over there
than at home. Disclaimer: I too have
used Edgware Road Tube station - five years ago when off to the West End to see Ralph Fiennes do Richard II - and those were
different days. It was a twinge to see it Thursday on television. The U.S. count of major
world terrorist attacks more than tripled in 2004, a rise that may revive debate about whether the Bush administration is
winning the war on terrorism, congressional aides said Tuesday. And then the Financial
Times the day before the bombs went off in London - US Raises figures for terror attacks to 3,200 – The Bush administration
on Tuesday released new figures for global terrorism that showed there were almost 3,200 terrorist incidents worldwide in
2004. But who's counting? Is this "flypaper" idea just not working out, or could the Bush administration argue
that there would have been even more of these attacks if we hadn't invaded and occupied Iraq? ... the impending trial
of Abu Hamza al Mazri, a one-eyed and hook-handed mullah who isn't as nice as he looks and who preaches Bin-Ladinism from
a shabby mosque in North London. He is currently awaiting extradition to the United States, and his supporters might have
wanted to make a loving gesture in his favor. So it could be a local
matter, having nothing to do with Bush and flypaper and whatever. That is possible,
of course. We've dealt with your
sort before. You don't try and pull this on us. And this email he received
– Work's over but there's
little chance of getting home right now. Most of us are just going to go to the pub until the traffic has died down. It's
not callousness or indifference to carry on as normal, it's quiet defiance. And this – 14:05 - I tell you what,
if this is an "Islamic" terrorist attack, they're doing a piss-poor job. The pubs are all packed out, people sipping their
pints happily, all a tad pissed off, but basically fine with it. Nice one, Al Quaeda - you profess to be from a teetotal religion,
and you've given the pub trade a massive mid-week boost. But then there is this – "You are right to point
out the British stoicism in the face of the attacks; it's quite admirable. However, your expat Brit emailer from London stretches
his comparison too far. Perhaps if Westminster Abbey had a plane rammed into its side and over 3,000 people died, the sports
commentators might feel the need to make a mention of it. It's wonderful the Brits are going on with their lives as normal
and the Americans might indeed do well to take note, but spare us comparisons between the attacks, because they aren't at
all comparable."
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
This issue updated and published on...
Paris readers add nine hours....
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
||||
![]() |
||||