LONDON OFFICIALS had long warned that sooner or later, it was inevitable. On Wednesday, it came to pass. In a coordinated attack, bomb blasts killed dozens of Londoners, injured hundreds more, and stranded hundreds of thousands as the British capital's traffic was brought to a halt.
The juxtaposition with the euphoria of the day before could
hardly have been more stark. Britain was still celebrating her
victory in the Olympic sweepstakes when the attack occurred. But it was almost certainly the G8 gathering, and not the Olympic news, that motivated the attackers, who would have spent months planning what was a carefully coordinated assault.
The G8 leaders, along with their guests from some of the most powerful countries in the developing world, showed a brave face and united front in their condemnation of the incident. Terrorism, after all, is the one issue that can unite this otherwise divided group. Nevertheless, the attack and the incident bears the trade marks of an al Qaeda operation shows how far from complete the war on terrorism is. It also reveals just how nebulous the enemy remains.
It also reveals how lethally effective al Qaeda can be. Periodic reports of its demise continue to prove exaggerated. Aside from the destruction of human life, the enemies of the West succeeded in transforming its agenda in the way they altered the proceedings of the G8 Summit. If al Qaeda is on its last legs, they are proving to be very long legs indeed.
The bombings in London are fearful reminders of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the so-called 9/11 start of the war on terror. And the 2004 Madrid train bombings in Spain was yet another challenge to the traditional ways of international
conflict.
It is bad enough that the cowardly attacks on innocent targets have nebulous objectives other than instilling fear. Worse yet is that the prospect of a trend toward curtailing of civil liberties in
established democracies may become a first line of defence against the terror of evil.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
