London Attacks @ MindSay 
terrorism
[Obviously if the majority of the Brits shared this sense of fairness of the Sunni council of Britain in brandishing the London bombings as characteristically similar to the slaughtering of Iraqis and Palestinians, they would be on the streets demanding the head of PM Blair and his supporters this very second and that every last ounce of support for the immoral state of Israel be ended .
Yet I would hasten to point out a glaring difference between the two examples: the muslim world has never initiated a major offensive against the west. September 11th and the other so-called "terrorist acts against freedom and democracy" were a response to a lenghthy list of western acts of aggression against the Muslim world, including the versions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The sooner the British public realizes this, the sooner they can repair their image, thus sparing themselves from future 'extremist' acts.]
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050718/ap_on_re_eu/britain_bombings
By BRIAN MURPHY, AP Religion Writer Sun Jul 17,10:08 PM ET
BIRMINGHAM, England - Ten days after Islamic radicals carried out deadly attacks on the London transport system, Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group on Sunday issued a binding religious edict, a fatwa, condemning the July 7 suicide bombings as the work of a "perverted ideology."
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The Sunni Council denounced the bombings as anti-Islamic and said the Quran, the Muslim holy book, forbade suicide attacks.
"Who has given anyone the right to kill others? It is a sin. Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell," said Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri, the council chairman. "What happened in London can be seen as a sacrilege. It is a sin to take your life or the life of others."
The council said Muslims should not use "atrocities being committed in Palestine and
Iraq" to justify attacks such as those in London that killed 55 when suicide bombers struck in three Underground trains and a double-decker bus, the fatwa declared.
"We equally condemn those who may have been behind the masterminding of these acts, those who incited these youths in order to further their own perverted ideology," Qadri said.
More than 2,000 Sunni clerics, scholars and community leaders attended Sunday's meeting, which was scheduled before the bombings.
Also Sunday, government officials dismissed claims that lax attitudes allowed homegrown suicide bombers to develop. The Sunday Times reported that one suspected bomber, 30-year-old Mohammad Sidique Khan, was investigated last year by MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service, but was not regarded as a threat to national security or subsequently put under surveillance.
MI5 began evaluating Khan, a Briton of Pakistani ancestry, during an inquiry that focused on an alleged plot to explode a large truck bomb outside a target in London thought to be a nightclub in Soho, the newspaper said. The private inquiry reportedly evaluated hundreds of potential suspects.
The Metropolitan Police and a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair declined comment.
The bombings have prompted the government to propose new legislation outlawing "indirect incitement" of terrorism — including public praise for those who carry out attacks.
Nevertheless, Charles Falconer, the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor, denied that the government had not been diligent in screening political refugees from Muslim countries, making Britain a fertile recruiting ground for Islamic terrorism.
"In terms of asylum, our policy is: If you are in fear of persecution, you are entitled to come here," the minister said on BBC television. "Obviously, if you then seek to attack the very state that you come to, that gives rise to different questions.
"But I don't think we have been ultraliberal. ... What we have got to do now is unify all the forces in our society, in particular in the Muslim community, against those people who are fundamentally at odds with our values."
The fatwa was issued as investigators in the northern city of Leeds continued to focus on an Islamic bookshop and a house near the home of one of the four alleged bombers, 22-year-old Shahzad Tanweer.
Tanweer, born in Britain to Pakistani parents, was believed to be one of the Underground train bombers and reportedly visited two religious schools on a trip to Pakistan.
Pakistani intelligence agents have questioned students, teachers and administrators at the school in central Lahore, and at least two other al-Qaida-linked radical Islamic centers, showing pictures and a dossier on Tanweer.
In an interview with CNN's "Late Edition," British Defense Secretary John Reid expressed concern about Pakistan's religious schools, saying the madrassas "are a major source of international instability and contribute largely toward the growth of terrorist activity."
Police said Sunday night that six men were arrested in Leeds under Britain's anti-terrorism act, but later retracted the claim and said they were arrested on immigration offenses. There is no connection between the July 7 London bombings and the arrests Sunday night, police said.
"There was a mistake earlier in that entry ," a spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to government policy.
Tanweer, Khan and 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, who were all from the Leeds area. Hussain was also a Briton whose parents were from Pakistan. The fourth suspect, Jamaican-born Germaine Lindsay, 19, who came to Britain as an infant, lived in Luton, a city north of London.
Police on Saturday released an image captured by surveillance cameras showing all four bombers with backpacks entering the Luton train station on the morning of the attacks. Investigators say the four took a train from Luton to London's King's Cross station, where they split up to carry out the bombings.
Officers have also been searching the Leeds home of an Egyptian biochemist for more evidence after investigators reportedly found traces of explosives in the man's bathtub. Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar is being interrogated by Egyptian authorities, who say the biochemist denies having any connection to the attacks. He was arrested at the Cairo airport in the days after the bombing.
Egypt is not prepared to hand el-Nashar over to Britain, Egyptian security officials said. British investigators are in Cairo to take observe the questioning. The two countries have no extradition treaty.
Mainly because they just do't seem like an Al-Qaeda-type attack, which narrows it down to some other group or someone trying to be like them.
Which absolutely infuriates me. Why in the world would you embrace something like that just so you can be recognized as part of another group that doesn't even recognize you. That's why I hate when people try and be accepted into a group just so they'll be recognized as cool, subjecting themselves to things they actually hate.
I have no idea what's going on with the attacks, because of the utter lack of information on Yahoo News, but if there were any people killed, and whether or not it was Al-Qaeda, God have mercy on their souls.
Ugh, I just cannot believe this.
Much love and God bless all of you, especially those that have been affected by these recent attacks,
-Alex
London's at a standstill again; a similar attack happened this afternoon, but only detonators went off and not the bombs, so luckily no-one's been injured. I don't really know much about it.. but it looks like a copycat of the 7th July attacks. Which were, incidentally, carried out by British citizens from Leeds. Which just makes you sick. Why would anyone want to do that to their own country? Ugh. They all died in the explosions as far as I know, which is a small mercy I guess. They deserve worse than death of their own choice though...
I need to start watching the news more.. I'm really behind on all this stuff...
I can't believe that while i was posting about how much i love London, some a~!&#$%s where preparing those attacks against Londoners... I'm so sad for those who died and i feel hurt as if these attacks had been directed against my own people.
I wish the worse to those who did that, to all those who attack others just because they believe that they cannot but be right. I have no compassion for them and i don't care that i don't... May they suffer like they made and make others suffer!
I'm not forgetting victims from other countries either, all attacks are revolting and i have the same feelings towards all terrorists, whether they act in Europe, Africa, Asia or anywhere else on Earth!
Really! How did we end up so low?
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In a brief statement several hours after the incidents, British Prime Minister Tony Blair categorized the explosions as a "series of terrorist attacks," saying that he believes the bombings were meant to disrupt the G8 meeting taking place 500 miles away in Gleneagles, Scotland (see "What Is The G8, Anyway?").
"It's particularly barbaric that this has happened on a day when people are meeting to try to help the problems of poverty in Africa and the long-term problems of climate change in the environment," said Blair, who is leaving the G8 Summit to confer with police, but is expected to return later Thursday. "It's important, however, that those engaged in terrorism realize that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world. ... Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilized nations throughout the world."
Initial reports blamed the explosions on a massive power surge, but as the story developed, officials said that it appeared bombs had been placed in a number of locations and timed to explode during the rush-hour commute.
London Metro Police spokesperson Brian Paddick said that the police service had received no warning about the attacks and there have been no official claims of responsibility from any group in connection with the attacks. "This clearly was a callous attack on purely innocent members of the public deliberately designed to kill and injure innocent members of the public," Paddick said. He said he was aware of an unconfirmed claim of responsibility by a previously unknown group calling itself the Secret Group of Al Queda's Jihad in Europe, which appeared in a web posting Thursday morning and was reportedly sent to several news agencies.
British army officers took to the streets in the aftermath to help secure the areas around the scenes and deter any further attacks. The incident occurred just one day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and less than 24 hours after the beginning of the G8 Summit, which is being hosted by Blair.
President Bush, who arrived at the G8 Summit yesterday, expressed his condolences and praised Blair for his "steadfast determination and strength." The president, who had a secure video conference with Homeland Security officials following the attacks, urged American commuters to be "extra vigilant" on their way to work Thursday.
"The contrast between what's taking place in London and what's taking place [at the G8 conference] is incredibly vivid to me," Bush said. "On the one hand, we have people here who are working to alleviate poverty, to help rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS, working on ways to have a clean environment. And on the other hand, you got people killing innocent people. The contrast couldn't be clearer between the intentions and the heart of those of us who care deeply about human rights and liberty and those who kill, who've got such evil in their heart that they will take the lives of innocent folks."
Bush said the G8 leaders stated they will continue to fight terrorism. "We will find them, we will bring them to justice and at the same time we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate," he said. Though the terror alert was not raised in the U.S. as a result of the attacks, the subway system in Washington, D.C. deployed bomb-sniffing dogs and armed police within hours and other major cities reportedly beefed up security on their transit systems. Amtrak raised the alert level on all its U.S. routes as well.
The blasts occurred at the Aldgate station (8:51 a.m. London time), near the Liverpool Street railway terminal, where seven were killed; at King's Cross/Russell Square in central London (8:56 a.m.), where 21 are confirmed dead; and Edgware Road in north London (9:17 a.m.), which resulted in five deaths when a bomb exploded on a train and blew a hole through a wall affecting two other trains. In total, more than 45 people have been treated for critical or serious injuries — described by an official as burns, amputations, blast injuries and fractures — and more than 300 for minor lacerations, smoke inhalation, shock and cuts.
A double-decker bus that exploded near Russell Square near the British Museum (9:47 a.m.) was believed to have resulted in fatalities, and at least two other buses are thought to have been struck as well, though officials said no information was available at press time.
An official described the bus to CNN as has having been torn open, "like a tin can," and eyewitnesses said the scene in the subway was one of sheer terror, as trains filled with smoke and soot and panicked riders covered in blood screamed as emergency lights came on and windows were shattered in attempts to escape the sealed train cars.
"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air," Belinda Seabrook told the British Press Association. She said the bus was packed with people and there was "a massive explosion, and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air."
Police spokesperson Paddick said it is unclear if the explosions were set off by suicide bombers or by packages left in the subway, and there is no indication that anything other than conventional explosives were used. At press time there was no information on any arrests in the case. "We are treating this as a terrorist incident and keeping an open mind as to who the perpetrators might be," Paddick said.
Subway passenger Bradley Anderson told Britain's Sky News that "there was some kind of explosion or something" as his train reached the Edgware Road station. "Everything went black, and we collided into some kind of oncoming train," Anderson said. Simon Tonkyn, 51, who had been traveling from Paddington station to Aldgate, in east London, told the Press Association, "There was just an enormous bang and a lot of smoke. A group of us got fire extinguishers and were able to smash through the carriage door, and I now just feel totally numb."
Simon Corvett, 26, who was on an eastbound train from Edgware Road station, said, "All of a sudden there was this massive, huge bang. It was absolutely deafening and all the windows shattered. There were just loads of people screaming and the carriages filled with smoke. You couldn't really breathe, and you couldn't see what was happening. You could see the carriage [train car] opposite was completely gutted. There were some people in real trouble."
Blair stressed that the G8 leaders would continue their talks in his absence and that he would rejoin them once he assessed the situation in London
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