London bombs terror attack — A Wrong Move

As you note, London used to be the focus of a lot of IRA bombings, many of which were deliberately meant to kill people (before the IRA realised that that was bad PR and so started giving out warnings). It used to be a (sadly) not uncommon thing to hear of a bomb going off.

It’s why there are no rubbish bins in any tube stations and near them (there haven’t been any for decades due to the fact the IRA used to put bombs in them). I actually had, like most people, pretty much got used to it. Still, it’s a bit stranger this time. It’s been a while and, however horrible the IRA were, they did have some limits.

But you’re right that these attacks will do nothing to weaken the government’s will. It’ll only make it stronger.

If it wasn’t such a sad day, I’d waste time trying to update “capeche”’s ignorance of the various factions of the IRA, what they did, where and when. Which supported terror tactics against civilians and which didn’t.

Meanwhile, i just viewed an interesting discussion among Arabic philologists who agreed, uniformly, the web site posting was doubtless contrived by a non-Arabic speaker working their way through a dictionary in an attempt to come up with some self-thrilling stunt.

And, then, we get a translation of lousy Arabic — written by the Associated Press! Talk about the blind leading the blind.

It was not written by a native Arabic speaker.

Um, I think the case of the Spanish deal was due more to the Spanish government lying about the terrorist attack, and the public acted to remove them for their malfeasance.

What ??? “the quick panic and pathetic submission of the Spanish under a terrorist threat” ?????? Are you blind ?? Submission to whom ?? Actually, we the Spaniards, responded in the best possible way to the threat, as we always do to terrorist groups: in a democratic way and getting out to the streets to show our repulse to the attack. And refusing to bend ourselves to the threats of anybody (even to the threats of the US if we get out of Iraq). So we voted against a government that lied about the bombing, and that took us to Iraq even when 95% (yes, 95%) of the Spaniards were openly against it. And we resisted the pressure of the terrorist, of the US, of our own government, and voted freely to change things. Can the same be said about the US after September 11th ???? I don’t think so. You are living in fear, and you are treating people inhumanly (Guantanamo Bay, remember, they are still there). You bended to your own Government and the terrorists, changing your style of life and the way you treat others. I would really like to invite you to come to Spain and to walk in the streets so you can see that we are still a happy and reasonably tolerant country, and very proud of being able to take our own decissions, even if the US tells us to do otherwise.

Eduardo….there is more afoot than “living in fear” in the US….we’re awash in a struggle to get accurate information to the masses (because a very few corporations control the media), our schools are not doing a very good job of educating, and we are more divided — as a people — than ever before.
We’re a very large country…… and, you must take into account the internal battles we face. We are a nation of relatively educated urban dwellers v.s. rural v.s. uneducated urban dwellers v.s. suburbanites, displaced blue collar workers, service workers, and “professionals”. It’s a confusing mass of humanity.
We have been marketed to…to consume, consume, consume….to the point where many of us think that what Brittney Spears, or Tom Cruise, or…any of the “stars” think is as important as what an intelligent “educated” expert might speak, probably more so, unfortunately. The “average” American has never been out of the country, has little working knowledge of current world events (our news really does not cover it), and, has never been taught simple geography (cutbacks, weird educational agendas). The fact that we are relatively “literate” is misleading. The “average” American lives in a very strange, self-indulgent world. We eat overprocessed, tasteless (salty and fatty) foods until we can barely waddle, we are overly concerned about getting a good “deal” at Walmart, and most everyone is an expert at what’s on television at a given moment, and never have a clue what the G8 conference is. .
We are 50 states — each with it’s own “state” government, each trying to work under the federal umbrella. It’s massively confusing. To speak of “US” would mean to talk about 50 different sets of state laws, 50 different internal politics, 50 different needs and problems. We are united by our media, and by our federal government. Meanwhile, our Federal government appears to not be fully accountable to the people, and corporations are without limits. It is a rats nest of agencies, burecratic confusion, and a maze of who has jurisdiction compounded by special interests, hidden agendas and budgets, and doubletalk. I doubt the “average” American has any real knowledge of what our oversea’s agenda is, anymore than what agency would aid them to prosecute a company that…say…overcharges on fees and outright defrauds them.
Don’t assume that “we” are as organized as a massive unit of people as ANY European country, or Asian for that matter. We are not..

Thanks for the comments, meetsy. For the record, I lived in the US for three years (in the Lone Star state ). And I have a lot of good and bad things to say about the US. But what really infuriated me in this case was Dvorak’s comment about Spain bending to the terrorists, when we have had terrorism in Spain for the last 40 years, and we have managed to live in democrazy and to still respect the terrorists’ rights, doing what the law says. And fortunately, we have no Guantanamo Bay. Because having terrorists is one thing, but the State becoming a terrorist, and doing things behind (or above) the law is the worst thing that can happen to a country. And the people of that country not complaining about it is even worse …..