Disturbing
One of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in recent days is the political reaction to the London bombings from outside the UK, and particularly from west of the Atlantic. For some seem to be reacting with the sort of secret smug glee you might feel when your disliked neighbour’s house gets burgled instead of yours. On America’s Fox News an anchorman declared that it ‘works to our advantage, in the Western world’s advantage‘, the implication being something along the lines of ‘maybe those inconsiderate Brits will understand now’.
Meanwhile our old and beloved friend George W Bush is busy telling us how we need to step up the war on terror as a ‘robust reponse’. And you can be sure that when there’s a perceived opportunity to get public opinion behind more death and destruction in far-off lands Russian president Vladimir Putin is right there looking for a piece of the action.
Of course, all of this completely ignores the fact that London was a major terrorist target long before American politicians even knew what that meant. The idea of Washington and Moscow preaching to us about how to deal with terrorists would be funny if the timing wasn’t so gratuitously opportunistic. Thankfully the British public simply aren’t that stupid. John Simpson says it all in his BBC article and Robin Cook’s opinion in The Guardian is also definitely worth a read. Plus there are some great humorous quips on this forum here.
Simply put, terrorism is a crime. In our civilised, free society crimes are dealt with by solid police investigation, trial and appropriate punishment. Not by dropping bombs on innocent people whose only crime is being far enough away that we can choose not to care. The ‘war on terror’ is morally equivalent to dropping bombs on Liverpool because some people claim it’s full of petty thieves. Last Thursday also proved it to be a complete and utter failure.
