The highest security alert level – “critical” - was clamped on Britain over the weekend, indicating that new terrorist attacks are imminent. Prime Minister Gordon Brown blamed three car bomb attacks on people “associated with al-Qaeda.”
The island nation was placed on the highest level of terrorist alert after a burning car smashed into Glasgow Airport in Scotland yesterday, disrupting air travel across the country. On Friday two car bombs were found in London’s crowded West End, near Piccadilly Circus. Two Mercedes with 60 liters of gas, gas cylinders and nails were detected - before their devices detonated.
A total of five people have been arrested in connection with both attacks. Details were not available. Gordon Brown, as Britain’s new prime minister, said “it’s obvious that we have a group of people… who’re prepared at any time to inflict what they want to be maximum damage on civilians.” He added that “we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al-Qaeda.”
Metropolitan Police in London stepped up security procedures at the ongoing Wimbledon tennis matches, as well as a memorial concert on Sunday for the late Princess Diana, who died 10 years ago. A statement issued by police said that concert goers could expect an increase in stop and search measures.
The London bombings on Friday occurred on Gordon Brown’s first full day as prime minister, succeeding Tony Blair. The timing could not have been coincidental. Brown’s new terrorism advisor Lord Stevens said the attacks signaled a major escalation “in the war being waged on us by Islamic terrorists." He went on to say: “It is clear a close but deadly network of interlinked operational cells has developed.”
Britain has a new system of five security levels. “Critical” is the highest, meaning that an imminent attack is expected. The home affairs correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said that the decision to go to “critical” reflects concern that there’s the capability and intent to carry out further bombings.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Lee Richards
Would this situation exist if we had used our hundreds of thousands of troops and billions of dollars against al-Quaeda (and their weapons of mass destruction) instead of Iraq over the past 5 years?
(Oh, that's right;Iraq is the one with the oil!)
2 - Zedd
And the Brits missed an opportunity to run wildly into the streets buying duck tape and fly massive China made flags, posting them on everything that doesn't move. The BBC failed to run sweeping banners of the union jack with marque phrases like "freedom on the march". What is wrong with them!!!!
The most exciting thing this weekend was a gay parade filled with partying and celebration.
3 - Dr Dreadful
That's what we do, Zedd. We put up with 30 years of IRA bombings: we're used to this kind of shit now.
So we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and just get on with life.
4 - Arch Conservative
Typical ignorant leftists ...blame everyone but the actual terrorists.
5 - troll
geeze Con - you're so knee jerk that you don't even wait for some poor slob ignorant leftist to come along with an argument blaming someone other than the terrorists before going on the attack
...but it's good to see you in agreement with Lee that the actual terrorists are the ones to blame and be held accountable
6 - Zedd
Doc
I know you didn't forget the raids and the London bombings during The War.
I suppose our drama is because we don't know true terror. We make every event it into a drama fest and milk it for every morsel that it is worth.
Arch
Who blamed anyone? You sound a tad bit paranoid about pause.... (music)dum dum dum..... (pause).... THE LEFTISTS muwahhahahahahah! .....(music again)dum dum dum dahhhhhhh!.
I think a LEFTIST killed JR. It's all in the secret files of the Illumalati. Shhhh I'm going into hiding. WWSRD (what would salman rushdie do)!!!
7 - troll
(yuk...how about: 'ones to blame and hold accountable'...does that work better - ?)
8 - Clavos
Why do we have to blame anyone?
They're just expressing their frustrations.
9 - High Heels
I think most of us bought extra newspapers and read them over cups of tea. ;)
10 - Dave Nalle
Would this situation exist if we had used our hundreds of thousands of troops and billions of dollars against al-Quaeda (and their weapons of mass destruction) instead of Iraq over the past 5 years?
Last I checked Al Qaeda has almost all of its primary resources tied up in fighting in Iraq - much of it directed against Iranian backed shiites rather than us. The terror attacks we've seen thus far are all being carried out by al Qaeda 'inspired' groups not really under their direct control.
Dave
11 - Alec
RE: Last I checked Al Qaeda has almost all of its primary resources tied up in fighting in Iraq - much of it directed against Iranian backed shiites rather than us.
Oh yeah, that's right. The Bush Administration's Department of Infinite Excuses dropped the lie that we were deposing Hussein so that we could re-build Iraq as a democracy in favor of the latest convenient untruth that we are blasting the crap out of Iraq so that the terrorists don't come here (here being the US but mysteriously not the UK even though there are British forces fighting in Iraq).
RE: The terror attacks we've seen thus far are all being carried out by al Qaeda 'inspired' groups not really under their direct control.
And this is better, how?
RE: Would this situation exist if we had used our hundreds of thousands of troops and billions of dollars against al-Quaeda (and their weapons of mass destruction) instead of Iraq over the past 5 years?
Odd, unanswerable question. But when did al-Queda ever have weapons of mass destruction?
12 - Zedd
Alec
But when did al-Queda ever have weapons of mass destruction?
I think it was supposed to be a joke.
13 - Muerto
The first time they got ends would be all it takes
14 - Alec
RE: I think it was supposed to be a joke.
It might have read better as: "Would this situation exist if we had used our hundreds of thousands of troops and billions of dollars against al-Quaeda instead of Iraq (and their weapons of mass destruction) over the past 5 years?"
15 - Lee Richards
The facts remain: al-Qaeda and its sympathizers and "inspired groups" continue to threaten us and our allies around the world and Bush's complete folly in Iraq has given them the time and room to operate and a cause to use to recruit more assassins.
And the non sequitur about them not attacking us here because we're fighting them there is sophistry. They have all the American targets they need within easy reach in Baghdad.
(And, in case you missed it, Cheney has already predicted that it's "almost certain" there will be more attacks on the U.S., putting the lie to their own rationale that the war has made us safer.)
16 - STM
Alec. I lived in Iraq as a kid, and stayed in contact with some of the people my family knew there when I was a boy. Whatever you think of George Bush and Tony Blair and their strategy in Iraq, the vast majority of Iraqis of all persuasions ARE grateful to the US and Britain for the removal of Saddam's murderous regime.
No one was safe, even his Sunni tribal members, who also disappared with alarming regularity - including his own Baathist uncle, who had led the party and the country for 10 years prior to Saddam taking the final step on his rise to power.
Don't be fooled by much of what you here. The insurgents are small blend of secular sunni nationailists and baathists, and wahhabist fruitcakes. It only takes a small number of idiots to cause maximum damage, especially in a country like Iraq where you can get anything you want and keep anyone silent or onside if the price is right. There are 99 per cent of Iraqis who aren't out there letting of IEDs or cracking AK-47s off at coalition troops.
As for the attempted bomings in London, they were all heinous but the Glasgow attack was targeted specifically at children and families travelling on the first day of the school holidays.
If anyone here can condone that kind of bullsh.t, and any attempt to do so is simply justification for mass murder, they deserve a spell in Iraq at the hands of these idiots - who don't care what side of the [political feance you stand on, BTW.
They just want you to become a muslim, their kind of muslim, and if you don't, you deserve to die according to their philosophy.
Georgte Bush and Tony Blair have probably been very wrong in their execution of their so-called war on terror, which does exist and the weeken'd events prove it exists.
And someone has to stand up to these fuckwits. I hope the yanks and poms don't go all namy-pamby on this stuff, because these folks aren't going away no matter what concessions are made.
17 - Clavos
"I hope the yanks and poms don't go all namy-pamby on this stuff, because these folks aren't going away no matter what concessions are made."
Repeated for emphasis...
18 - bliffle
Chasing OBL and AQ down 5 years ago would probably have involved transgressing on Pakistan, a dangerous and difficult move requiring strength, subtlety, intelligence and thorough analysis, all of which were discarded by Bush in favor of a thoughtless brute attack on Iraq. I suppose they thoght they'd e able to parlay a quick decisive victory and establishment of a US puppet into a credible threat against Pakistan, SA and Iran. Too bad they were just plain wrong.
19 - moonraven
When I was in Caracas last week I saw an interesting film, YASMIN (Kenny Glenaan, John Templeton European Film of the Year Award 2004)--a small picture that has very big reverberations.
It's the story of a British/Pakistani woman and her family, and how in the aftermath of 9/11 everyone in the family changes and becomes politicized due to the savage attacks on Muslims in the UK.
It is available on DVD and in light of what APPEAR to be more bombings on the horizon in the UK, it is a must-see for understanding how very westernized folks become Muslim activists in response to being abused.
By the way, whatever happened to those 22 Pakistani Usual Suspects Blair had on the payroll?
20 - alessandro Nicolo
Well said STM. A former colleague of mine was Iraqi and said as much. They're not stupid.
As for the I am mistreated ergo I turn to terrorism logic: that's insane. It points more to the rot in militant Islam than it says about the alleged evils of the West. Terrorism is political. That poverty and injustices gives rise to it is increasingly becoming specious as an excuse.
21 - Joe
Yeah, I saw a movie somewhere, about how families that were cut in half by the 911 attacks got really pissed off too.
"Savage attacks on Muslims in the UK?" I'm guessing that your movie was a work of fiction (it was), because it didn't work like that (it didn't). In the UK or in the states. And according to reviews of "Yasmin" you've misportrayed it as an us vs. them revenge flick. Not true at all. Check IMDB and come back.
22 - Dave Nalle
STM, have you noticed that those of us who have lived among muslims in the middle east and have personal relationships with them and affection for Arabs and Persians as people, are also the ones pointing out that this hardcore religious extremism cannot be ignored or brushed off or minimized the way so many on the left want to do?
We seem to be the only ones who grasp - or even care - that the first victims of radical islamic extremism are the average arabs and persians and kurds and pakistanis, etc. who just want to live their lives, practice their religion in a moderate and rational way and be left the hell alone.
BTW, I met another Iranian expatriat today. Nice fellow. Loves it here in America and not a big fan of eternal Jihad or the current Iranian regime. His story of what it was like to go back and visit relatives two years ago was more than a little disturbing - but that's a story for anothe rday.
Dave
23 - STM
Yes mate ... I have a similar story about the guy who cleans (and sells me) my rugs. A devout Iranian expat muslim with his own business, loves it here, and won't go back, for reasons we can discuss elsewhere and doubtless will.
24 - Arch Conservative
"The facts remain: al-Qaeda and its sympathizers and "inspired groups" continue to threaten us and our allies around the world and Bush's complete folly in Iraq has given them the time and room to operate and a cause to use to recruit more assassins."
So you believe that if we hadn't gone itno Iraq there would have never been any new recruits for Al Queda or other radical muslim terrorist groups Lee?
Bush may be a bumbling, incompetent, moron but to his credit he at least has the balls to admit that radical islam is a global threat which threatens all of western civilization. That's more than can be said today's crop of American liberals who want to pretend that there is no real threat from radical islamic terrorists. They want to impede every measure taken to make all of us safer no metter how firmly based in logic and common sense. They cry more for Abu Gharib than they do 911. It's quite sickening actually.
Please don't in typical leftist fashion, respond to this post as it is some kind of endorsement for Bush, because it is not. Fuck Bush.
Rather take it for what it is. If those on the left are too fucking stupid or too busy being politically correct to admit the obvious, islamic terrorism is a threat to all of western civilization and not just an American-Israeli problem, then they can go fuck themselves too.
25 - Lee Richards
That's not what I said, Arch.
Radical Islam is a major global threat. I said Bush is not combatting it in the right way.