London Attack II

Turned on the TV for my early morning row, and there was breaking news about another spate of bombings in London. Pardon? I thought. Terrorists usually disappear for a year or so before crawling back out to share their little nightmares with us. The nice thing about the Internet is that one can get current news straight from the source: BBC.

Prime Minister Tony Blair held a press conference with Australia's Prime Minister John Howard. There is a movement afoot to blame ourselves for the bombings, to blame the invasion of Iraq specifically. Like a victim of abuse, many are taking on responsibility for the assaults, when it's the terrorists -- and only the terrorists -- who are to blame. Ghandi showed us a better way to protest abuse, to effect change, to liberate one's people. He did it successfully, and the violent among us didn't like that. People who think in violent terms and foster hateful thoughts can only see death and destruction as a way to solve problems. They don't need an excuse; they're raging to lash out.

Howard pointed out that the Bali bombings occurred before Iraq. Osama bin Laden blamed Australia's role in liberating the people of East Timor as the reason why Australians had to be bombed. The Australians were the only people courageous and compassionate enough to respond to East Timor's suffering. When we let terrorists dictate a country's foreign policy, we have given the game away, Howard asserted. He's right. Would it have been a better reflection on us to turn our backs on East Timor to appease the terrorists?

Blair said that the roots of this are deep. Terrorist attacks go back 10 years. What has built up over a period of time, will have to be dismantled over a period of time. Part of that is remaining calm and not allowing them to terrorize us, at least overtly. Be scared to death, but still show the world that freedom and tolerance are the best ways to lead our lives. Londoners continue to show us the proper way to react to these vermin.

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