UK Press Slams "Inevitable" Attack

CAIRO, July 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Elements of condemnation, horror and bitterness at the deadly London blasts were evident in all British dailies Friday, July 8, but the elements of "shock" or even "surprise" were hardly there.

"It was crystal clear Britain would be a target ever since Tony Blair decided to join George Bush's "war on terror" and his invasion of Iraq. We had, as they say, been warned. The G8 summit was obviously chosen, well in advance, as Attack Day," Robert Fisk, one of Britain's leading writer, said in The Independent.

"And it's no use Mr. Blair telling us yesterday that "they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear". "They" are not trying to destroy "what we hold dear". They are trying to get public opinion to force Blair to withdraw from Iraq, from his alliance with the United States, and from his adherence to Bush's policies in the Middle East.

"The Spanish paid the price for their support for Bush - and Spain's subsequent retreat from Iraq proved that the Madrid bombings achieved their objectives - while the Australians were made to suffer in Bali."

The Guardian also, while condemning the blasts, said the "terror attack" was inevitable, citing British anti-terror officials.

Security, intelligence and police chiefs have been braced for an attack on London, which they regarded as inevitable, the paper said.

"But Whitehall's Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre (Jtac) last month reduced the threat level from Al-Qaeda terrorism, from "severe - general" to "substantial".

"The Guardian has learned that Jtac made the decision on the grounds that the Al-Qaeda leadership did not have the ability to order a coordinated attack in Britain. But that did not mean a group of individuals broadly sympathetic to Al-Qaeda did not have the ability to mount attacks on their own initiative.

"Jtac said many of its current concerns focused on individuals or groups 'only loosely affiliated to al-Qaida or entirely autonomous'", the paper said.

Price

The Mirror, however, was more blunt in putting the deadly blasts within the context of the ongoing "war on terror" and Iraq's occupation.

Under a headline reading, "Terrible Price for Iraq War", the daily posed a couple of questions starting with, "WAS it because of the war in Iraq?".

"The answers are likely to make uncomfortable reading for Tony Blair and for supporters of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions," it added.

The daily quoted an unnamed anti-war Labour Member of Parliament as saying he has little doubt Iraq is to blame.

"But hours after the blasts, he said it would be insensitive to say: 'I told you so,'" according to The Mirror.

It also quoted Respect MP George Galloway as saying Londoners had "paid the price" for Blair's wars.

"Responsibility of course lies firmly with the butchers who mercilessly killed and maimed. However, when the inquest starts, the Iraq War will also be in the dock," the paper said.

Agreeing with Fisk, the Mirror linked the timing of the heinous attacks to the G8 summit.

"The timing of the blasts, as Blair hosted George Bush in Gleneagles, is unlikely to be coincidence."

"If we are fighting insurgency in Iraq, what makes us think insurgency won't come to us?," Fisk said in his article in The Independent, also making the direct link to the Iraq invasion.

Fisk started his article with a quote from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden saying, "If you bomb our cities, we will bomb yours."

"There you go, as they say," Fisk wrote.

No Surprise

As a case in point, the Guardian quoted a knowledgeable intelligence source as saying last week, "We keep on asking why there has been no terror outrage yet. We know it's bound to come."

Jtac - which includes officials from MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the police - is now reassessing the threat. Both the police and MI5 have been increasingly alarmed by a steady trickle of young British Muslims traveling to Iraq to join insurgent operations. But the threat from them, they believe, would come later.

"We have monitored some of them leaving, sometimes via France, but we haven't yet seen them returning," an intelligence source said last week. "Some of them have multiple identities, which makes them difficult to track."

Going through another report by the Guardian makes clearer how the deadly London blasts were far from surprising to everyone in the British capital.

"Londoners woke yesterday (Thursday) still basking in the warm glow of their Olympic triumph. Then came the news they had dreaded - and half expected - since September 2001.

"All the shock was Wednesday's: London's Olympic day. All the horror belonged to Thursday: London's day of bombs. And the fact we were not surprised makes it no easier."