London again

[teleman]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/london.tube/index.html


cowards:mad:

[thefobia]

It seems that maybe this time the suicide bombers have been duped. The bombs went off. No casualties. The police are saying that the bombs merely had a primer, which causes a loud bang, without an explosion. Apparently, a surpirsed looking 'terrorist', fled the scene.

I really don't know what to think of this. I just hope it wasn't a legitimate attemped terrorist attack.

Stupid motherf*ckers.

*edit*: although that report doesn't say so, there were four bombs, there was also one on a bus, which blew out some windows.

[gollywog]

This looks like a "Hey, we did it again! So, how safe do you feel now?" kind of attack.

What I'm interested in is what Blair has to say about this? After all this, is he still able to keep troops in Iraq and have a good night's sleep? If there's an ounce of humanity in him, the answer should be "no".
And where's MI-6? Yet another mystery. While James Bond is in Cairo searching for Pakistani chemists residing in Bradford, terrorist sleepers/suicide bombers are going mad through London's public transportation system.
Since I'm an often London guest, I have to expres my disgust wth the way Blaires running things. Sometimes I'd like to see she bitch Thatcher come back to power. At least there'd be grounds for a true punk revival. This way, it's only paranoia a la Godzilla vs. Tokyo.

[Welladjusted]

i have doubts this was a terrorist attack, at least not from the same people. nobody died. cnn's calling them bombing attempts. al queda tends to actually... succeed

[lp_man]

It seems to me like those "copy cat criminal" type of thing. Probably not related to the other ones, just some people who saw and didn't know what they were doing.

Too early to tell.

[i_finlayson37]

Originally posted by gollywog
And where's MI-6? Yet another mystery. While James Bond is in Cairo searching for Pakistani chemists residing in Bradford, terrorist sleepers/suicide bombers are going mad through London's public transportation system.

It's more an MI5 issue since it's home grown bombers. They do seem to be quite reactionary though. I'd expect once this has all died down a little there'll be some investigation into the lack of intelligence surrounding it, as Michael Howard was proposing it and Blair seemed pretty accepting.

Of course the important thing to remember though is that we only really hear about intelligence failures. They no doubt have plenty more activities going on that we won't hear about for 50 years when the information becomes declassified.

Because it was a failure there'll be a lot of evidence left over for them to use in their investigations.

[i_finlayson37]

Originally posted by Welladjusted
i have doubts this was a terrorist attack, at least not from the same people. nobody died. cnn's calling them bombing attempts. al queda tends to actually... succeed

From what I've read the bombs were very similar to those used two weeks ago so that does suggest the possibility of some sort of link.

It's interesting to note that the last time Al Qaeda attempted a second attack on a target they also failed.

[teleman]

Originally posted by i_finlayson37

It's interesting to note that the last time Al Qaeda attempted a second attack on a target they also failed.

Which was? Remember the first time they tried to blow up the World Trade center in NY? Didn't do a whole lot more than blow out a few windows.

[i_finlayson37]

Originally posted by teleman
Which was? Remember the first time they tried to blow up the World Trade center in NY? Didn't do a whole lot more than blow out a few windows.

Madrid, they had a second attack planned which was foiled by Intelligence agencies. If I remember correctly all the bombers ended up having to blow themselves up in an appartment building to avoid getting caught.

[teleman]

Originally posted by i_finlayson37
Madrid, they had a second attack planned which was foiled by Intelligence agencies. If I remember correctly all the bombers ended up having to blow themselves up in an appartment building to avoid getting caught.

forgot about that one:o

[lp_man]

Every now and then you hear about minor successes, like didnt they find a few beans that could have been used to make chemical weapons a while ago in an apartment?

[gollywog]

Originally posted by i_finlayson37
It's more an MI5 issue since it's home grown bombers. They do seem to be quite reactionary though. I'd expect once this has all died down a little there'll be some investigation into the lack of intelligence surrounding it, as Michael Howard was proposing it and Blair seemed pretty accepting.

Of course the important thing to remember though is that we only really hear about intelligence failures. They no doubt have plenty more activities going on that we won't hear about for 50 years when the information becomes declassified.

Because it was a failure there'll be a lot of evidence left over for them to use in their investigations.

They're supposedly home grown bombers, nobody knows anything as of yet. i didn't know about the Howard proposal, though I'm glad they're doing something.
As far as my intelligence bashing goes, it doesn't really matter if it's MI-5 or 6. Somebodys not doing their f*ckin' job. Either one or both, but i'm not asking whichwhile bombs are just flaring in the tube.
And,true, we only hear about the failures. But this is one huge failure. Two weeks ago, &0-some people were killed. How many could've been killed yesterday?
Anyhow, I'm inclined to believe the "copycat" claims. But I still wonder...

[thefobia]

Originally posted by i_finlayson37
From what I've read the bombs were very similar to those used two weeks ago so that does suggest the possibility of some sort of link.

It's interesting to note that the last time Al Qaeda attempted a second attack on a target they also failed.

I think its more than just a coincidence, that the bombs start failing at around the same time that the 'bomb expert' is being held in custody.

[nyrkickazz1]

Originally posted by teleman
Which was? Remember the first time they tried to blow up the World Trade center in NY? Didn't do a whole lot more than blow out a few windows.

So I guess you're not counting the six who died and the 1000+ injured?

[teleman]

Originally posted by nyrkickazz1
So I guess you're not counting the six who died and the 1000+ injured?

I wasn't aware there were that many casualties.

[i_finlayson37]

Originally posted by gollywog
As far as my intelligence bashing goes, it doesn't really matter if it's MI-5 or 6. Somebodys not doing their f*ckin' job. Either one or both, but i'm not asking whichwhile bombs are just flaring in the tube.
And,true, we only hear about the failures. But this is one huge failure. Two weeks ago, &0-some people were killed. How many could've been killed yesterday?
Anyhow, I'm inclined to believe the "copycat" claims. But I still wonder...

I'd presume the intelligence agencies are pretty overstretched and trying to find prospective terrorists must have a slightly needle in a haystack element to it. Especially with the way the "Al Qaeda network" is and the fact the bombers were home grown and seemed to do a lot of DIY work.

Simple fact is there will always be intelligence failures unless you want the country turned into a police state and if there's always going to be failures it's pretty reasonable that one of these failures may kill a lot of people.