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7. juli 2005
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British
Prime Minister Tony Blair:
When they try to intimidate us, we will not be
intimidated, when they seek to change our country, our way of life by
these methods, we will not be changed.
When they try to divide our people or weaken our resolve,
we will not be divided and our resolve will hold firm.
We will show by our spirit and dignity and by a quiet and
true strength that there is in the British people, that our values
will long outlast theirs.
Then, to demonstrate the truth of his words, Tony Blair returned to
the G8 summit in Gleneagles to deal with "business as usual."
10:38:54 PM 
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Anyone surprised that George
Galloway uses the opportunity to again reveal himself as an
opportunistic, disgusting hack? Nah, me neither.
9:31:44 PM
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Tim
Blair has a great roundup of reactions to the London terror
attack from near and far.
Here is the
text of the letter posted on an Islamist message board claiming
responsibility for the attacks:
"Rejoice, community of Muslims," the letter states. "The
heroic mujahedeens today conducted an attack in London," it continues.
All of Great Britain is now shaken and shocked, "in the north, the
south, west and east." "We've warned the British government and the
British people time and again," the letter adds. "We've kept our
promise and have carried out a blessed military
operation."
"We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy
and all other crusader governments." We demand that all countries pull
their troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, states the letter, which has
been signed by the "Secret Organization -- al Qaida in
Europe."
Obviously, there has been no confirmation that this letter is
genuine, but it probably expresses the common sentiment of the
terrorists and their followers pretty well.
The Islamofascists are stupid if they think such mindless acts of
slaughter will break the resolve of the British people or government.
This is a nation that has been involved in practically every major
international war for the last centuries, and not lost any of them
since 1783.
The British will now be even more determined to prevail also in the
war on terror.
8:02:54 PM
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CNN commentators keep calling this the "worst bomb attacks on
mainland Britain ever". This is obviously wrong. True, this attack,
almost certainly from Islamofascists, is worse
than anything the IRA ever did. But it still doesn't come close to
the carnage Hitler's Luftwaffe subjected the city to in the 1940 London
Blitz, where one bomb hitting a school killed 450 people, while
the overall bombing campaign is estimated to have killed 43,000
civilians.
Not to belittle the horrors experienced by Londoners on this day,
of course, but for the sake of factual accuracy.
6:26:44 PM
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At least 33
are confirmed dead, with hundreds injured. The toll is set to
rise.
The police said there was no prior warning about the attacks, no
specific intelligence, and neither any credible claims of
responsibility.
As we can expect from the English, there were an amazing calm even
among people directly affected by these horrible atrocities, as people
evacuated the London tube. Considering people in the affected
underground carriages were sitting for an hour or two in complete
darkness, affected my smoke, this is telling. The emergency services
and the police are receiving a lot of praise for a well-executed
operation as well. I am sure some criticism will arise in the
following days, however.
Security is being increased across Europe and the US.
5:21:04 PM
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Neither any Google hits (besides news) on 'Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaeda
of Jihad Organisation' which apparently is a more correct
translation of what these bastards call themselves... Be aware of
American 'organization' being spelled with an 's' replacing the 'z' in
British English.
4:55:03 PM
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Google still returns no
hits when searching for the phrase "Secret Organization group
of al-Qaeda Organization in Europe", the organisation claiming
responsibility for the London terrorist attacks according to an
Islamist website (this will obviously change very soon!). There is no
prior knowledge about such a group, so it may well be an opportunist
with no infrastructure beyond a PC, a modem and a website.
4:33:23 PM
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A CNN
Timeline says:
2:38 U.S. law enforcement sources say the British
government has said that at least 40 people have been killed and
London hospitals report at least 300 wounded, the Associated Press
reports.
Many seriously injured and some in critical condition in hospitals.
The similarities with the Madrid 3/11 attacks are obvious, but
hopefully the death toll will not be as high. Yet, this is a horrible
disaster hitting London on what should have been a happy day for the
city, the day after securing the 2012 olympics.
It is worth noting that with the massive security apparatus
guarding the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, there is likely to
have been far fewer police officers available for London than in
normal times.
This may be speculation, but I think it was totally obvious to the
police that the early simultaneous explosions in the underground were
terrorist attacks. The initial public statements about a "power
failure" was, I think, a bit of misinformation to avoid hundreds of
thousands of people in underground carriages and buses panicking, not
to mention communication systems breaking down as millions would call
their loved ones at the same time. Instead, there was a controlled (it
seems) evacuation of the trains and buses in the few crucial hours
after the attack, as the emergency contingency plans kicked into
gear.
4:24:44 PM
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Via Counterterrorism
Blog:
Victor Comras notes that the trial of Abu Mazra al-Masri,
Britain's best-known Islamic radical, started
in London two days ago on multiple charges of soliciting the
murder of others. Walid Phares noted on NBC that several groups
threatened attacks in Britain in recent months.
Chrenkoff
quotes:
A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British
police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks
minutes before the first explosion.
The four known near-simultanous bombs targeted three underground
cars and one bus. There has been reports of more buses being targeted,
but that appears to have been caused by the initial confusion.
Unconfirmed reports now say "more than ten" dead. The death toll
appears likely to rise.
3:08:34 PM
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Via Counterterrorism
Blog:
Victor Comras notes that the trial of Abu Mazra al-Masri,
Britain's best-known Islamic radical, started
in London two days ago on multiple charges of soliciting the
murder of others. Walid Phares noted on NBC that several groups
threatened attacks in Britain in recent months.
Chrenkoff
quotes:
A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British
police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks
minutes before the first explosion.
The four known near-simultanous bombs targeted three underground
cars and one bus. There has been reports of more buses being targeted,
but that appears to have been caused by the initial confusion.
Unconfirmed reports now say "more than ten" dead. The death toll
appears likely to rise.
3:04:14 PM
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The BBC has a
log giving the latest news on the London terror attacks as the
story develops.
2:25:13 PM
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There definately were terrorist
attacks in London early today :
Two people have been killed and scores have been injured
after at least seven blasts on the Underground network and a
double-decker bus in London.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was "reasonably
clear" there had been a series of terrorist attacks.
Police and emergency services response appears to have been swift
and effective. Buses and underground are closed down. People are
advised to not travel to the centre of London.
There were four explosions, two reported dead and hundreds of
injured. Based on eyewitness accounts, the death toll seems likely to
increase.
An islamist website has stated Al-Qaeda was responsible, but this
is unconfirmed.
After 9/11 and 3/11, we now have 7/7. This crime certainly was
planned to coincide with the G8 meetings.
2:07:54 PM
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Developing London story: Eyewitnesses have told CNN that there was
an explosion tearing the front of a double decker bus at the same time
as the underground incidents. This is unconfirmed.
11:37:33 AM
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The entire London Underground has been closed after reports
of an explosion near the Liverpool Street underground.
British Transport Police said there were "walking wounded"
but one person's life was reported to be "at risk".
London Fire Brigade said four crews were at the scene and
more were on their way. A power failure could be the cause, Transport
for London said.
A shutdown of the network creates total transportation chaos in the
city, which was just yesterday awarded the 2012 Olympics despite some
concerns over congestation. Nothing so far indicates this is an act of
terrorism, but it is still early.
Unless Jacques Chirac is a worse loser than I thought (ok, that was
a joke).
11:13:44 AM
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Unless you're Greek, you probably will struggle
pronouncing the name of Greek European parliamentary Giorgos
Dimitrakopoulos. So did British foreign minister Jack Straw, who
eventually had to give up and apologise.
Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos took the botched attempts of Jack Straw and
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner in very good spirits, laughing and
applauding as his name was repeatedly abused.
German lawmaker Elmar Brok offered a practical solution: "We tend
to call the rapporteur George. It's much easier." Straw took that
advise.
PS:One has-been pop singer named Georgios Kyriacos
Panayiotou actually found out this a long time ago. He decided to call
himself George Michael before going for fame and fortune.
9:20:34 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 30.07.2005; 02:57:46.
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