London Bombs Need
Calm Response
Commentary from BBC
World News Editor John
Simpson
...Now that the bombs have
exploded, and thousands of
newspaper pages and entire days
of air time have been devoted to the
horror of it all, and to the poor,
decent people who are dead and
missing, and to the misguided
criminals responsible, perhaps we
can stand back from it all and catch
our breath.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/467157
7.stm
speaking about the London attacks of 7/7:
"...That these people are, if necessary, prepared to spill Arab blood in
addition to the blood of regular -- of non-Arab people living in London..."
Of course, the reporter was not challenged or corrected. Brit Hume's first
"personal" thoughts were that this was an investment opportunity, rather than a
tragedy. This is, after all, the same network that let Shepard Smith keep his job
after talking about blowjobs and Jennifer Lopez on air in the middle of the day.
In any case, whatever Mr. Blair hoped to gain by asserting that most Muslims are
good, rather than framing it as a question of violence versus nonviolence, has
been lost in the American translation. For sure Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair later
discussed the bombings in terms of ethics--the bombers versus the G8
conference. But this did not help, as there are no predominantly Muslim nations in
the G8.
Apparently, at least one Arabic media outlet is reporting that its underground
radical contacts in London have knowledge that the attack was the work of an al-
Qaeda sleeper cell in Europe--much the same way that the Madrid bombings were
carried out last year. If this is true, then we can expect attacks in the next few years
on France, Italy, and Germany. France and Germany have been dovish on Iraq,
but not on Afghanistan. Italy's people have been dovish on Iraq but its
government, led by the corrupt media mogul, scum merchant, and Bush family
crony Silvio Berlusconi, has ignored the will of its people and pursued a hawkish
foreign policy.
In addition, Juan Cole points out that the UK and other Bush allies were specifically
mentioned as targets in bin Laden press releases as revenge for joining the fight
in Afghanistan, and other countries on that list have been attacked as well. The
Bali bombings in Indonesia, for example, were carried out by an al-Qaeda ally
(Jemal Islamiya), as an attack on Australian tourism, hitting both economic and
personal interests there. Here I think he's right on the money.
Cole takes a different stance on the motivations for the bombing. He sees "sacred
terror" as form of desperate symbology, especially since many al-Qaeda cells
couldn't operate in Arab countries (they would be easily infiltrated and
compromised). So by operating deep within the Muslim community of Europe,
these cells have the advantage of being almost impenetrable to Western
infiltration, as the lack of actionable intelligence has shown. At the same time, by
operating in Europe they operate in exile from Dar-al-Islam, and so these
bombings are a way for the attackers to see themselves making a difference in
history through revenge, even as they are marginalized.
I'm not so sure if I agree. It’s not a bad argument, but I just think there is more long-
term planning at the helm than existential reinforcement. I do think that the vast
amount of Western ignorance on Islam and its many-faceted political and religious
cultures causes many to collapse al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the
Palestinian Authority, Indonesia, Hamas, Hizb Allah ("Hezbollah"), into one Other,
rather than observe them as the disjointed, multiple, fragmented, and sometimes
lonely agendas that truly exist. Thus, the head of the U.S. FBI counter-terrorism
bureau denies the absolute need to even know anything about Islam, and couldn't
tell you the difference between Shia (Shi’ite) and Sunni if his life depended on it.
Americans are largely confused and disbelieving when Hamas and Hizb Allah
condemn the London attacks and al-Qaeda's methodology in general. When Hizb
Allah's TV station in Beirut, al-Manar, carries live coverage of the blasts
and death tolls, by default it’s interpreted as some sort of celebration.
Thus you have comments ranging from "Fuckin' Ragheads" on internet message
boards to my own father's personal favorite term for any Arab-based collective
action: "Brotherhood of the Unwashed." I got woken up with that one yesterday
morning, before I'd even heard about London.
I think it’s an open question whether this attack will galvanize British public opinion
towards a more warlike stance with Iraq and support for Mr. Blair. The Madrid
elections last year were widely (but wrongly) viewed as capitulation to the rail
bombings, when in fact the anger of the people was roused at the center-right's
cover-up of the bombings, and its attempt to blame the Basque separatists for
them, rather than al-Qaeda. My experience with Spain is that the Spanish body-
politic continues to be relentless in expectations from its government, given that
they had been oppressed so long and so recently by Generalisso Franco and his
Fascists. Lying so openly is political suicide there.
The same cannot be said for the British body politic. Blair has managed to survive
every challenge to him so far, and this attack may just cement the right-wing of
Labour, at least in terms of foreign policy. Even the antiwar MP leaders, like
Galloway, are rightfully disgusted. This is certainly war overall, and whether Iraq
will shift in the British doves' mind from a separate conflict to a front in the so-
called "War on Terror" (Bush's stance) remains to be seen.
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