Isn't he in Durham?

Yeah, pretty sure Martyn lives in Durham.

Figures I've seen say 30 or 40+ people dead, and hundreds injured.

And yes, the G8 summit is continuing, Blair left for a little while to come back to London, but he’s going back later today.

Vinny, while I obviously agree that attacks like this are low and certainly uncalled for, they’re trying to achieve and instill fear and terror in order to force the government to do something – in this case, withdraw from Iraq/Afghanistan.

Wow. That's very neccessary of you to say right now.

Although this attack is still a bit unclear to me--the news reports have been showing varying conditions--, this attack is brutal to say the least. I likewise give my condolences to those wounded and otherwise affected by the horrid tragedy.

Some say that this might have not been a suicide attack. If so, I hope the Britons can catch the bi0tches who did this.

These bombings are not what London deserves. I live around 60 miles from the city and feel sorry for all those that were involved. It shows that these terrorists or these killers are even willing kill innocent people who done nothing to deserve it.

Yesterday I was happy to hear that London, Britian's great capital city won the bid to stage the 2012 Olympics and now this has been replaced with the misery of a terrorist attack. Its just about worst thing that can happen.

Now the world will take notice and the world can get rid of these parasites and these killers before anything else happens. I would be more than happy to kill these bastards myself. I just cant understand some people who just follow crazy idealogoies of making war against what they call the 'West'. We are not the West we are ordinary people trying to live in a free society. Im gonna stop as the whole thing is making me angry

Yep, it is. This is a pivotal point for both Britain and America. If Britain decides to cease their help of America in the Middle East in order to try and avoid more situations like this, then America will have lost one of her greatest allies, which will cripple the overall effort. If, however, these attacks strengthen the British instead, then the overall effort will be strengthened.

Wait, this wouldn't have a connection with London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, right?

Pissed of New Yorkers or Moscowites? Don't think so. The French wouldn't have the guts.

the news just mentioned a controlled detonation being made this afternoon, but nothing else was stated.

perhaps the police found another explosive device before it could be used?

Not from their viewpoint. They believe(at least this would be the most logical explanation) that if a people do not rise up against a government, then they are consenting to what their government is doing and is as guilty as the government for allowing it to go on.

That thought ocurred to me too, but I don't think anyone who really cares about the Olympics would have stooped to terrorist attacks.

I know this is relevant, but Britain doesn't have a capital, thats why there's also capitals of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

If you honestly believe that Britian's alliance is anything more than political, then I feel bad for you. Then again, a political alliance isn't neccessarily a bad thing, but the American presence in Iraq and Afgahanistan is simply huge is comparision to the military presence of Britian; we all know that. America is pretty much in it alone.

While you may have seen it, to some degree, as some sort of hope for Britian's commitment to America and England's cause, the point I'm making is there's no reason to say something like that about Spain. That statement was pretty much a kick in ribs... and Spains alliance was nothing more than political. While Britian had ~11k to 9k people in Iraq, Spain had what? 40? 100? America doesn't need that type of support, and I think people living in Spain will feel better knowing they're doing what they want and knowing they'll be safe, which is more important than any safety America will have putting Spain on its list of Allies.

Only problem is about 3000 innocent people did die in the WTC attack. If anything, by your logic, you could say that the Pentagon attack was understandable but I would still disagree with that.



Why? He doesn't want to see the UK cower to terrorism. I know they won't.

I don't think this attack is directly related to G8. Maybe timed to coincide with it but not because of it. I also think it absurd to link this to the 2012 Olympics. The most probable explanation is Al Qaeda or the like.

My heart goes out to those affected by this horror and to coallition forces who will continue their campaign against those who would commit these acts.

Yeah... with pants on the ankles and Britain bent over. Let's not engage in politcal bull**** just yet. I'm waiting for a phonecall and I really hate fake smiles.

Directed at Eversor:

But what Spain did was affirm that terrorists could dictate its foreign policy. No country can afford to do that.

The only thing Britons want is security. Britons have never liked American foreign policy and the most tragic thing is that they are dying for something they never even supported in the first place.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with what he said.

Yeah, it's like this one guy said on the news - that these attacks are in a way like a paradox.

The terrorists try to make their point by these attacks, when it only usually leads to more desire for a unionship against terrorism.

We'll have to see how the world will respond publicly to it.

I do think Spain really hurt the fight on terrorism, as it showed that terrorists could directly break apart allies by just attacking a country. I just wonder if the reason these attacks were planned partly due to that notion that maybe Britain will be like Spain and pull all its troops

One question: Why?

Well, Osama bin Laden did make an offer to negociate peace with countries that stop supporting America. Much like we're trying to avoid war with Iran or North Korea, it might make sense for some countries to try and avoid war with Al Quaeda.

You don't seem to get it Eversor. Any time one of our allies backs out because they were attacked, that strengthens the terrorists who are seeing their tactics work. And if their tactics work then they will continue them even longer and cause even more bloodshed. If Britain, being the largest ally we have, pulled out because of this then it would be a huge blow to Coalition morale and a huge boost to the terrorist morale, emboldening them to do even more drastic measures.

Now, Britain is far more than just a "political ally". They have 12,400 troops total in the Middle Eastern theatre, which is nothing to sneeze at. And, the other 24 allies that actually have troops on the ground surpass that number, proving that a little can make a lot.

No, no, no. You don't support it. The majority do support it or at least tolerate it. Otherwise the Labour party, and Blair, would have been ousted from government in the last election, but they weren't. The anti-war people in America, Australia, and Britain may be louder than the pro-war, but that by no means makes them the majority. The recent elections of all three of those countries prove there is a "silent majority" that approve or tolerate what is going on.

Haha, don't think the re-election of Labour is an approval of them. They were only re-elected because the Conservatives are a whole lot worse (and the Lib Dems aren't actually a serious alternative), not because people actually support Labour. Everyone knew that Labour were going to win, regardless of what they did or what the public thought of them.

Whoa...whoa. My god..."don't think the re-elect of Labour is an approval of them"? Are you honestly saying that? Evidently there were enough people who liked them to keep them in power.

Well, unlike a two party system, the Brit's system allows a party to gain more power while still not having majority support. Still they at least have plurality support. And, Kieran, it shouldn't supprise you. We have overwhelmingly elected conservative candidates nation-wide here in the US since what, 1994, and the Democrats still act like they're in the majority!

yeah, because we all know so much about spain and their governmental affairs both foriegn and domestic. and we know exactly what we would do if we were the leader of a country we know little about.
let's all sit in our living rooms eating pizza and beer, flip back and forth between fox and cnn, and then comment on world affairs.

omg...I would love that! If only the people that acted like they could do better than Bush would follow that advice.

Yes, I'm honestly saying that, because neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats are viable alternatives. The view of the overwhelming majority of Labour voters is "Oh well, I don't particularly like Labour, but I really don't want the Tories to get in.". That is totally different to "I love Labour!". A "lesser of two evils" if you may. It's really an illusion of choice, and we've known about it certainly since the first Labour victory. Unless the Tories reshape themselves radically (which they're not going to do), I'm fairly certain we'll see another Labour victory at the next general election too.

Which is, as I've shown before, a toleration of what the Labour is doing. This is, of course, provided you are correct in your analysis of Labour party voter mentalities.

I'm ok, and I'm back in York now, my Durham days are behind me.

Izzy on the other hand is in London, but she and her family have reported in fine, but as far as I know she's texting around her friends at the moment and I've not heard from her since about lunchtime (5 or so hours ago).

The current report from the BBC news (on TV) is that there are 37 confirmed fatalities and about 700 hundred injured, the majority of whom were able to make it to hospital under their own power.

If by 'toleration' you mean 'morbid fear of another Thatcher era', then yeah. The point is that the Labour victory was nothing to do with Labour, and Labour know this. This is why Blair's 'victory' speech was less about victory, and was more the closest thing to an apology on Iraq we're ever going to get.

This is very sad.:(

Hope all the British Massassians are all right. My heart goes out to London.

This rages me. I pray for those people.

I stick by what I said, but it was ill-timed and I'm sorry for that.

Weird, all day the tornado alarm has been on by my house, but we don't get Tornados, any one care to explain what this could mean?

Um, yeah, but most of us do know how we would feel if we are in a country that is attacked by terrorists. Understandably you wouldn't.

There really is much to fear about the Brittish cutting and running though. Terrorists might scare those sympathetic to their cause but England has seen far worse. They didn't cut and run in WWII and these pissant cowardly terrorists come nowhere near what Nazi Germany inflicted upon Great Brittain.

My girlfriend's good friend is touring London at this moment. She just was on the hpone with her making sure she was OK, she said she was inside a hospital near the blasts and could hear it.

I must say, Spain is a country that is basicaly at the feet of the terrorists, they are too afraid to loose a few people, and they will do their wishes, remember the train incident.

I admire Spain for pulling out of the Coalition. Not only did it secure the country once and for all from Al Qaeda attacks, but it took balls to sever its ties to the Coalition and stand up to the U.S. by letting it know that Spain doesn't support its cause (and probably never really did). It's not easy to stand up to such a bully of a nation.

So I suppose Spain is just a snivelling, ball-less coward of a nation, eh? I think it made the smart decision. Also, I wouldn't bat an eyelash if Britain decided to pull out. It might hasten the United States' own exfiltration from the Middle East.

I think it's fair to say WWII was a little more critical than Iraq.