CAIRO,
July 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Elements of condemnation, horror
and bitterness at the deadly London blasts were evident in all British
dailies Friday, July 8, but the elements of "shock" or even
"surprise" were hardly there.
"It
was crystal clear Britain would be a target ever since Tony Blair
decided to join George Bush's "war on terror" and his
invasion of Iraq. We had, as they say, been warned. The G8 summit was
obviously chosen, well in advance, as Attack Day," Robert Fisk,
one of Britain's leading writer, said in The Independent.
"And
it's no use Mr. Blair telling us yesterday that "they will never
succeed in destroying what we hold dear". "They" are
not trying to destroy "what we hold dear". They are trying
to get public opinion to force Blair to withdraw from Iraq, from his
alliance with the United States, and from his adherence to Bush's
policies in the Middle East.
"The
Spanish paid the price for their support for Bush - and Spain's
subsequent retreat from Iraq proved that the Madrid bombings achieved
their objectives - while the Australians were made to suffer in
Bali."
The
Guardian also, while condemning the blasts, said the "terror
attack" was inevitable, citing British anti-terror officials.
Security,
intelligence and police chiefs have been braced for an attack on
London, which they regarded as inevitable, the paper said.
"But
Whitehall's Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre (Jtac) last month reduced
the threat level from Al-Qaeda terrorism, from "severe -
general" to "substantial".
"The
Guardian has learned that Jtac made the decision on the grounds
that the Al-Qaeda leadership did not have the ability to order a
coordinated attack in Britain. But that did not mean a group of
individuals broadly sympathetic to Al-Qaeda did not have the ability
to mount attacks on their own initiative.
"Jtac
said many of its current concerns focused on individuals or groups
'only loosely affiliated to al-Qaida or entirely autonomous'",
the paper said.
Price
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Blair looks devastated by the attacks. (Reuters)
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The
Mirror, however, was more blunt in putting the deadly blasts within
the context of the ongoing "war on terror" and Iraq's
occupation.
Under
a headline reading, "Terrible Price for Iraq War", the daily
posed a couple of questions starting with, "WAS it because of the
war in Iraq?".
"The
answers are likely to make uncomfortable reading for Tony Blair and
for supporters of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions," it added.
The
daily quoted an unnamed anti-war Labour Member of Parliament as saying
he has little doubt Iraq is to blame.
"But
hours after the blasts, he said it would be insensitive to say: 'I
told you so,'" according to The Mirror.
It
also quoted Respect MP George Galloway as saying Londoners had
"paid the price" for Blair's wars.
"Responsibility
of course lies firmly with the butchers who mercilessly killed and
maimed. However, when the inquest starts, the Iraq War will also be in
the dock," the paper said.
Agreeing
with Fisk, the Mirror linked the timing of the heinous attacks to the
G8 summit.
"The
timing of the blasts, as Blair hosted George Bush in Gleneagles, is
unlikely to be coincidence."
"If
we are fighting insurgency in Iraq, what makes us think insurgency
won't come to us?," Fisk said in his article in The Independent,
also making the direct link to the Iraq invasion.
Fisk
started his article with a quote from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
saying, "If you bomb our cities, we will bomb yours."
"There
you go, as they say," Fisk wrote.
No
Surprise
As
a case in point, the Guardian quoted a knowledgeable
intelligence source as saying last week, "We keep on asking why
there has been no terror outrage yet. We know it's bound to
come."
Jtac
- which includes officials from MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the police - is now
reassessing the threat. Both the police and MI5 have been increasingly
alarmed by a steady trickle of young British Muslims traveling to Iraq
to join insurgent operations. But the threat from them, they believe,
would come later.
"We
have monitored some of them leaving, sometimes via France, but we
haven't yet seen them returning," an intelligence source said
last week. "Some of them have multiple identities, which makes
them difficult to track."
Going
through another report by the Guardian makes clearer how the
deadly London blasts were far from surprising to everyone in the
British capital.
"Londoners
woke yesterday (Thursday) still basking in the warm glow of their
Olympic triumph. Then came the news they had dreaded - and half
expected - since September 2001.
"All
the shock was Wednesday's: London's Olympic day. All the horror
belonged to Thursday: London's day of bombs. And the fact we were not
surprised makes it no easier."
