We were attacked before we went into Iraq, and a sampling of a whopping two nations (UK and Spain) doesn't exactly provide compelling evidence.

I'm not arguing with that. I'm just wondering why this would persuade ANYONE to change their stance on terrorism when changing your stance on terrorism would probably vastly increase the chance that your country would suffer an attack. That line of reasoning makes zero sense to me.

I'm not so sure that changing a European nation's stance on terrorism would really increase (or decrease) the chances of being attacked. I say this because if you read what Al Qaeda, and sympatico groups, say, they are holding grudges from the Crusades. They are swayed by current actions, but their agenda is clearly not limited by contemporary events.

France, as Arya pointed out, is fighting terrorism. I may despise Chirac, but lets give credit where credit is due. France has the best intelligence gathering capability, with regard to penetrating Jihadists, of any European nation. It is because of France's help that New York is now considered to be almost immune to attack by Al Qaeda. I think that Al Qaeda would like another shot at New York, but they can't because of France.

All nations who are potential targets of Al Qaeda are best served by pooling resources together. I believe that this attack will only intensify the desire to cooperate on the intelligence sharing level. After all, on September 11, 2001, almost 3,000 people were murdered, and almost $10 billion in property was destroyed. Today's tragedy in London is the best that Al Qaeda can do, and it is of a scope that is far less than what happened almost four years ago. If they will continue to attack, a continued coordinated campaign against them will probably guarantee that any future strikes are muted compared to what Al Qaeda would like to do.

Al Jazeera
 

The lead article on Al Jazeera's English web site reads: Muslim leaders condemn bloody attacks on London
http://aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8930

I find this intersting as this suggests that their readers are very concerned with the face of Islam in light of the continued actions by Al Qaeda

Bad joke buddy, people are dead and at this moment a country is deeply hurt.

I do have to admire the brittish and their 'stiff upper lip' cause all of them on TV are pretty firm in their resolution to not let the terrorists win. Unlike the pussy Spanish when this happened there in March 2004.

On another note - while this barbarism is tragic, its somewhat reassuring that the terrorists are still only using TNT. Its relatively low-end technology and shows that they havent been able to get their hands on raidological dispersal devices, bio weapons or other WMD's. The explosions suck, but they could be a lot worse.

As I was evacuating from my apartment on 9-11, I was thinking the same thing. Its very strange to be grateful that "only" a certain number of people died.

Two of my housemates from school are in London. They're both ok but shaken up.

Just herd from cousin that there are reports of abuse toward anybody that isn't white, especially people of Indian descendent. I knew this was going to happen, with emotion flying high.

Ha'aretz Daily Newspaper
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/597425.html

continued

In the case of the French, not hard at all

I'm personally waiting to find out what if any connections are made to other terror groups in this attack... as in where did the bombers get their explosives? If the explosives were homemade/stolen locally then it is a lone cell... if the explosives are a little more comlpex then they had to come from somewhere, and this is what I'm interested - the connections between groups and their sources of support (material, monetary, and men).

So for example if they used semtex or some other military grade explosive, then it most likely was acquired from ETA or IRA stocks... the ETA may have provided explosives for finacial support (they are hurting with France and Spain nailing some long operating cells this year), or from the IRA (or its many off-shoots) "decommisioned" arms caches. On the positive side if it was military grade explosives the origin of the explosive will be easier to trace, as most explosives manufactured since the late 70s have chemical signatures left in the residue.

:rolleyes: France has a better conviction rate for terrorists than the US does... so what does that say?

TERRORISM ALERT IN FRANCE -- (AP, UPI) Yesterday, the French government announced that it has raised its terror alert level from RUN to HIDE. The only two higher levels of their terror alert are SURRENDER and COLLABORATE. The heightened alert was precipitated by the recent fire which destroyed the French White Flag factory, effectively disabling their military.

I love international relations theories based on drunken nights at some fratty bar. You all should submit your crackpot ideas to some journal of International Affairs.

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Aside, this is terrible. I need to call my friends with families in England (who are all, for the most part, South Asian) to make sure they're okay.

I'm not a praying person, but you can bet that Londoners are in my heart tonight.