Nuff' said
Hats off to London and Londoners. It's the spirit of the Blitz all over again. This oft-quoted English tradition, the stiff upper lip, is as impressive as is the stoicism you see around the city as people go back to work and resume their life. In a sense, we have had IRA bombs since the 70s. Why should we let the buggers interfere with our lives? It's business as usual, or else terrorism succeeds.
A group linked to Al Qaeda have claimed responsibility. I quote:
"In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Muhammad, God's peace be upon him.
Nation of Islam and Arab nation: Rejoice for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.
We have repeatedly warned the British Government and people. We have fulfilled our promise and carried out our blessed military raid in Britain after our mujahideen exerted strenuous efforts over a long period of time to ensure the success of the raid.
We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the Crusader governments that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He who warns is excused.
God says: "You who believe: If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly."
The fools. Britain is certainly not burning with fear, terror and panic. If anything we are burning with wrath and rage. This terrorist fad will learn that nations will not tolerate fundamentalism inasmuch as we do not tolerate bigotry, racism, sexism and religious intolerance.
So it seems that the Al Qaida or a wannabe branch of the main group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. This surge of violent fundamentalism in the Muslim world will have repercussions. The rise of distrust breeds contempt and a lack of true understanding, as people become embroiled in the sensationalist ideas propagated by the media in favour of sensible ideals.
Despicable and hypocritical comes into mind when you read a message that quotes words from the Koran and the blessings of Muhammad in a warning that includes violence, murder and hatred and inspires fellow Muslims with misguided words of bravery, honour or morality within that context.
From what I’ve learnt of the Al Qaida, we can trace their origin back to the time of the 4th Caliph Ali. They rebelled against his rule, and eventually assassinated him. Those familiar with Islamic history would know it was the death of Ali that lead to the cataclysmic divide between sunni and shia (as to who was to succeed to the caliphate). At the time they were known as the ‘khawarij’ (‘those that left’ in arabic’). They twisted Islamic law in two major ways: 1. they considered that when ordinary people commit major sins their blood becomes permissible, and 2. armed insurrection and rebellion against the rulers was permitted. Retreating to the hills, the cowards have been fighting a rearguard action against anyone they consider too moderate for 1400 years. They occasionally make a comeback when things get tough in the Muslim world (as in today when virtually all Muslim countries are police states that persecute their own population). They are true extremists that simply do not consider innocent people ‘innocent’ for their warped logic.
It is hard not to wonder how ordinary Muslims really feel about seeing atrocities committed in the name of Islam. Do they feel a personal or religious affront, or conversely do they feel grudging fraternity for the perpetrators? Or are they, as I suspect, as melancholy, sad, confused, and slightly detached as the rest of us are?
I do not dislike Muslims, even if I do find some of their ideologies harsh and unconvincingly hypocritical, a personal belief which encroaches almost every religion, including Christianity and the Catholic Church. What I find most disagreeable about the current state of affairs is the lack of universal condemnation amongst the clerics and Muslim people of the world, in light of the attacks. To say you do not agree with the ideology behind the attacks is not enough. To condemn the attacks and then follow on with a proviso that "hey, you guys asked for it" does not, in my humble opinion, go far enough. It's like a little spurt of electricity that lights up a bulb for a momentary lapse before retreating to a safe, dark point. One cannot condemn and then justify. At the end of the day, you hurt yourself with the lack of integrity and the half-heartedness of your words. Because the terrorists will bend your words to their advantage and in their continued attempts to sully the name of Islam.
In the words of a letter from London to the terrorists:
What the fuck do you think you're doing?
This is London. We've dealt with your sort before. You don't try and pull this on us.
Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you're trying to do, it's not going to work.
All you've done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don't get rewarded for this kind of crap.
And if, as your MO indicates, you're an al-Qaeda group, then you're out of your tiny minds.
Because if this is a message to Tony Blair, we've got news for you. We don't much like our government ourselves, or what they do in our name. But, listen very clearly. We'll deal with that ourselves. We're London, and we've got our own way of doing things, and it doesn't involve tossing bombs around where innocent people are going about their lives.
And that's because we're better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we're going to go about our lives. We're going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we're going to work. And we're going down the pub.
So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the fuck out of our city.
Tube announcement
All the lines are suspended
Touching
Tragic
