The League of Doom
There's really no point in talking about anything besides the bombings in London. Just after the day that Londoners celebrated their successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics, an Arab terrorist group calling themselves "The Secret Group of al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe" claimed responsibility for setting off four bombs in London's subway network and bus system, killing 33 people, injuring scores of others and bringing the G8 summit to a pause as Prime Minister Blair rushed back to London from Scotland upon receipt of the news.
In a country that's been keenly divided on support for the Iraq war, and also divided in its approach to the Israeli defense against Palestinian terror bombings, the citizenry of London are united in their horror at what has just happened in their own city (with perhaps a few coming to a dawning realization of why the Israeli's might find it prudent to build a wall between themselves and the Muslim Palestinians).
PM Blair described the attacks as "barbaric" (which is how I describe traditional Middle Eastern, uhm, culture on a daily basis, give or take a Tuesday), while Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner of London police, said "We are clearly shocked but we are not surprised by what has happened," evidencing that barbarism is just about what he expected from the likes of Michael Moore's Minutemen.
London's Mayor, Ken Livingstone, stated: "Black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindus and Jews, young and old . . . (it was an) indiscriminate attempt to slaughter irrespective of any considerations for age, class, religion -- whatever."
The Islamic Human Rights Commission warned London Muslims to stay at home to avoid any violence aimed at them, yet strangely (or is that "tellingly" . . . ?) made no public condemnation of the violence of the Islamic bombers themselves.
The email address for the Islamic Human Rights Commission is info@ihrc.org, and their telephone number is (+44) 20 8904 4222. Please write or call and politely remind them that it might just possibly be more appropriate to express regret that any Islamic group has taken credit for these attacks, and that London's Muslims stand in solidarity with the rest of London's citizenry in decrying all instances of terrorism against the people whose countries and cities they share.
Because, you know, Islam is a religion of peace.
ADDENDUM:
You know the shit's really hit the fan when the Seattle PI publishes this, when only back in May they were publishing this (by the same artist, incredibly enough).
ADDENDUM 2:
Kris, over at Dummocrats, tears the terrorist apologists a new one.
ADDENDUM 3:
And speaking of terrorist apologists. Sad, sad, sad.
ADDENDUM 4:
Suspects emerge.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
"They did not bomb London because there is insufficient transparency in Congress about the Gitmo detainees; they bombed London because it is part of the Zionist-Crusader Conspiracy run by the sons of monkeys and pigs, who must submit or die."
Comments
Excellent spotting on the cartoons. I'm just too sad to comment intelligently on the whole incident, yet... but you really mention some good points.
____________________
Homocon sez:
I hear ya. As much as I never want to see a terrorist attack in the United States again, it makes it even that much worse that it happened to our loyal friends in the U.K.
Posted by: ArmyArtilleryWife | July 8, 2005 5:01 AM
Excellent analysis, brilliantly written.
Idiots who still believe Islam is peaceful will no doubt be surprised when Farakhan(CON)'s boys start blowing things up, and treating everyone like they treated Malcolm X.
Posted by: Ted | July 8, 2005 11:55 AM
i think we should threten to level mecca on the next boming of any kind. they only understand violance so lets give them some violence. where they go to hang their head in shame at there behavior
Posted by: frank la may | July 8, 2005 5:02 PM
Firstly, Islam is a set of ideas, which, as you have pointed out above in 'chew on these', is not a monolithic entity - there are differing traditions of thought and internal conflicts about the nature of the religion (as with, what a shock, other religions like christianity). Statements such as 'Islam is this or that', do not form cogent analyses.
Secondly every single muslim and muslim organisation that has appeared on television, radio or newspapers that I have seen in the UK, where i am resident, have utterly condemned the murders. Even the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood - a prominent fundamentalist teacher and whom many would consider in the same vein as Osama Bin Laden - has condemned the murders in London. He justifies acts of violence in Iraq, Chechnya, Palestine against military targets as political acts against tyranny, but he says the London bombings (or 9/11) cannot be justified under any circumstances.
Thirdly, it is always a mistake to make assumptions in the immediate aftermath of such an event about who the culprits are, or their motivations without serious qualifications. Your initial blog is now, in one aspect at least, out of date with the revelations yesterday that the bombers were British, of Pakistani descent, and not members of the organisation you mentioned.
Fourth, the motivation behind such terror attacks (how we 'explain' them) is far too simplified in the press - some people say the West's foreign policy, or the nature of Islam, or lack of integration within UK society is to blame. All are cartoon explanations.
Fifth, I still think the wall in Israel is a bad idea, at least in the way it is being actioned in practice. The principle of it is defendable.
Posted by: Different Rod | July 14, 2005 12:41 AM
I said this right after 9\11 - if the entire world does not unite and eradicate terror - we are screwed.
Posted by: Scott Warner | August 2, 2005 5:35 PM