Well as a Londoner with friends in the midst of these atrocities, I am as anti-Bush/Blair as I was yesterday. Being opposed to the terrorists doesn't make me side with (those who I perceive to be) other aggressors.hambone1 wrote:Seriously, these atrocious acts make me give Bush & Blair my unequivocal support.
Don't let Al Quaida inform your opinion of Islam any more than you let your opinion of Christians be informed by Christian extremists (who say "thou shalt not kill", but are happy to insist on the death penalty and murder abortionists; who say "love thy neighbour as thyself" but preach intolerance for gays, Muslims, etc.).Riff Valley wrote:Putting bombs on buses is not a perswasive argument for me to become a Muslim.
Any Muslims or Christians who follow the word of God are against such actions.
The attacks in London were indiscriminate. They were not attacks by Muslims on Christians, they were attacks by terrorists on the free world.
As Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London) put it:
andLondon Mayor Ken Livingstone said the blasts that ripped through his city Thursday were "mass murder'' carried out by terrorists bent on "indiscriminate ... slaughter.''
Livingstone, in Singapore where he supported London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics, was rushing back to London after the simultaneous blasts in London's subway network and a double-decker bus, causing deaths and hundreds of injuries.
"I want to say one thing: This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners,'' Livingstone told reporters.
"That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith, it's mass murder,'' Livingstone said. "We know what the objective is. They seek to divide London.''
A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe'' claimed responsibility for the blasts in an Internet posting, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
News of the blasts sent jubilation at London's successful bid for the 2012 Games plummeting less than 24 hours after the International Olympic Committee's vote.
Livingstone said the attack was aimed at ordinary Londoners.
"Black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindus and Jews, young and old,'' he said. It was an "indiscriminate attempt to slaughter irrespective of any considerations for age, class, religion - whatever.''
Livingstone said he was being kept informed of developments in London via a communications team set up in case an emergency occurred when he was out of the city.
"I have no doubt whatsoever that this is a terrorist attack,'' he said.
I know that you personally do not fear to give your own life in exchange for taking others. That is why you are so dangerous. But I know you do fear that you will fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society. I can show you why you will fail. In the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our seaports and look at our railway stations. And even after your cowardly attack you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners, to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential. They choose to come to London as many have come before because they come to be free. They come to live the life they choose, they come to be themselves. They flee you, because you tell them how they should live.