
Went out tonight with my good friend Kirky (who, if we were both gay, we would make a lovely couple) and had time to reflect on the days events over a few beers and some Japanese food at
Wagamama.
I have some thoughts on the attacks, they may not be in any correct order and they may be a little random but I think they are worth putting out there.
Something's not quite right about all of this and I don't mean
Prime Minister Blair emoting at the news cameras, or the insipid coverage were news casters with too much make-up on ask people who've nearly died what it was like, or President Bush looking utterly uncomfortable at Blair's side as the Prime Minister gave his second speech about the day's events. The Texan nearly made me laugh out loud as he stood, gnomic and shifted from foot to foot as Blair emoted some more.
Did anyone see Bush's first speech following the bombing? Man, I wish that whenever we get attacked in the future he gets to speak because the crazy bastard just cheers me up. He said 'folks' about twenty times and was virtually in coherent. Cool.
Speaking of speech's, London's Mayor
Ken Livingstone also said some good words:
This is not an attack against the rich and powerful. It is not an attack on the politicians, but on the common working people of London. We have seen that you [the terrorists] are not afraid to take your own lives but what you did is just mass murder. I can tell you now that you will fail in your long-term objectives to destroy our free society. In the days that follow, look at our airports and seaports, and even after your cowardly attacks, you will still see people from around the world coming to London to achieve their dreams.Back to what isn't right about all of this and for further thoughts along these lines head to the good
Col. Dr who seems to be on to something.
I don't think al-Qaeda are responsible. Why? Well for one thing the claim of ownership was phony as hell and featured an error in the text related to the Koran. These people do not make false quotes from the holy book they are willing to die for. The language was also utterly unlike al-Qaeda.
Also the scope of the assault was too small, if they really wanted to bring London to its knees then they could've. It's virtually back to normal already and yes, that's a wonderful reflection of the spirit of the people and the hard work and bravery of the emergency staff but al-Qaeda don't do small, they do 9/11.
Ken Livingstone hit it on the head when he talked of who they had targeted, al-Qaeda go for epic targets, targets with a message not a selection of stations and a bus.
I think this is a splinter cell and that doesn't make it any better but it leads on nicely to my next thought.
Going round the British blogs out there I'm picking up some saber rattling and some laying of blame. Understandable but we've got to be careful, otherwise the UK people will suddenly be lining up behind the vacuous
WAR ON TERROR and you know how I feel about that.