bombings in London

[xstatic]

For those who have not yet heard, there was a massive attack on London today. 9am London time - in their rush hour.
www.msnbc.msn.com/

I would check msnbc for now. Just keep those people in your thoughts today.

I had to call my husband at work and tell him. Now we just have to wait and see if any of his family was hurt.

[abrannan]

The amazing thing to me is how few fatalities are being reported from this many blasts on public transportation during rush hour. Right now they're only reporting 2 killed, with somewhere under 200 people injured. Don't get me wrong, that's still terrible, but it really could have been much, much worse. My thoughts go out to all involved.

[xstatic]

it's up to 45 killed at over a thousand injured - and climbing.

this is actually a better source for news.
www.sky.com/skynews/home

[abrannan]

I'm currently looking at the news wires, and they really don't have a good handle on fatalities at this time. I'm seeing, 12, 40, 45, 100 killed, and injury numbers at 150, 300, "thousands". The sort of news reporting that I saw during the Atlanta Olympic bombing, where they were saying hundreds dead and thousands wounded. Or some of the early 9/11 reports where they were claiming 20-30,000 dead. We really won't know for sure for probably another 24 hours or so.

[xstatic]

Well - I just called Gareth's family over in England and they told me that all of his relatives are okay. I can confirm that my last statement is indeed true. I think that they have a better handle on fact and fiction that we do. But alas you are correct - these things need 24 hours to find out the fact.

I was in atlanta durring the bombing. Luckily I was not in the area at the time. But overall I remember that the damage was not too bad. They did have HUGE hype due to the audacity of the attack of the olimpics. But any attack it hellacious.

[psisar]

MSNBC said:

Islamic group claims London attack

- Link from MSNBC page related to story.

MSNBC said:

“We do not know who or what organizations are responsible for these terrible criminal acts,” Clarke said.

- Quote taken from MSNCB article.

Wow, an American website screaming foreign terrorism? Hmm. Go figure. Is it just me or is the States becoming the boy who cried wolf? They know almost nothing about the story except for the tradegdy itself, not the leading up to said tragedy, and the first people to blame are Afgan terrorists.

Sorry, not the time/place, I don't mean to offend anyone. Don't get me wrong, I feel for these people, I really do

I hope your husbands' family is ok, xstatic *hugs*

[abrannan]

Glad to hear that your loved ones are safe.

[Grant.]

Wow, an American website screaming foreign terrorism? Hmm. Go figure. Is it just me or is the States becoming the boy who cried wolf?

Total agreeance on that one. Who'd of thunk that there would be terrorism NOT in the United States...

[abrannan]

Yeah, why would anyone assume that Al Qaida was involved? Well, for starters, a supposed European cell of Al Qaida is claiming responsibility for the attacks. Granted, the claim is of dubious origin, but so far no other group has stepped forward to claim responsibility. So you've got a room full of people, and one guy standing up saying "I did it." Yes, that guy could just be an attention whore, but who would you look to first? Second, the subway blasts followed the same pattern of the Al Qaida train attacks last year in Madrid, and are timed for a major political event (G8). Granted, the bus is more of a Palestinian style suicide bombing, but again the attacks all seem to point to an islamic extremist group. Yes, fingers have been pointed in the wrong direction before (Oklahoma City), but IIRC, you didn't have any groups claiming responsibility for that one. A lot of folks assumed Basque separatists were responsible for the Madrid bombing, when in fact it was Al Qaida.

All I'm saying is that if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, you're going to assume it's a duck before you come to a conclusion of goose. It's not just American paranoia.


The most important thing now is to care for the survivors, and get things moving again in London, no matter who's responsible. That's the lousy thing about suicide bombers, those most directly responsible are already dead, robbing those who would seek "justice" and vengeance of closure.

[psisar]

I know it's not just American paranoia, the point I was trying to get at is that it's become American paranoia. From what I could gather, the only basis for the claim that it was Al Qaida was a website suggesting that they were planning an attack. A website. I'm not saying it was or wasn't anyone, but there is very little information saying for certain this was the work of any foreign terrorist group, but it's being globally syndicated that Afghan terrorists are to blame.

I did a lot of studying in school last year about the news (and manipulation thereof) so I'm usually a bit skeptical on issues like this.

All I'm saying is that if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, you're going to assume it's a duck before you come to a conclusion of goose. It's not just American paranoia.

And you're right. But there are no solid conclusions, just assumptions, and they news is supposed to be about fact; not "what we think happened".

The most important thing now is to care for the survivors, and get things moving again in London, no matter who's responsible. That's the lousy thing about suicide bombers, those most directly responsible are already dead, robbing those who would seek "justice" and vengeance of closure.

True enough, I'll stop my ranting. It is very, very sad what happened and my heart goes out to those in Britain and the families of the victims.

[SSC]

To me it doesn't matter who did it, it's a travesty to the human race and just another example of how truly terrible we can be. The people who did this are cowards, dispicable, and don't even deserve the coverage we're giving them because that's what they want.

[UpsideDown]

I used to live just outside of London, and was talking yesterday about moving back once I get out of college, so this is so sureal to me right now. I don't think its really hit me yet.

[xstatic]

one thing about london is that they are good at getting back on their feet. Last I checked, they were already letting people back into the stations earlier today to get home.

America's response - going code orange.. left me with this image today as taken off of USAToay's website, which disturbs me greatly.


On another disturbing and saddening note - those who have not heard, Egypt's top diplomat in Iraq was kidnapped and executed today. Though this story unfortunetely went on the backburner.

[abrannan]

The code Orange was only for public transit systems (way to go making the terror alert system more confusing), and that Metro car is *very* empty for DC. Usually at rush hour it's packed wall to wall with people, which is why I was surprised at the low (even at 40 killed, which seems to be where the numbers are stabilizing) fatality numbers from today's attack. The Metro stop at the National Institutes of Health (where I work) was closed for an hour and a half this morning due to a suspicious package. Sadly, a person in military uniform wielding combat weaponry is an all too familiar sight around here.