Listening to NPR this morning, I heard Tony Blair say that the bombings were clearly the work of anti-G8 protesters. NPR added, well, it might be the IRA or anti-Olympics people(!). We were not supposed to think about the clear example of Madrid. That sleight of hand broke down with the al-Qae’da announcement of the bombings as payback for Afghanistan and Iraq.
The only voice of sanity, among the usual suspects on terrorism, was Michael Scheuer, who called the attacks a black eye for Bush and Blair and their lies that “they hate us because we are free and virtuous.” They hate us because of what we do in Muslim countries, he said.
Other vignettes: Bush read a statement in a pipsqueak voice, leading me to wonder if it is normally enhanced electronically, or was he just having a My Favorite Goat moment? Later, the moron Pataki told New Yorkers to “take the subway” so as not to give the terrorists “a victory.” He then climbed into his armored limousine escorted by a cohort of swat cops. Lots of indications that the Brits had advance warning of the bombings, and passed on the word to the great and good. The people only hear about the phony warnings.
The state’s reaction to such events is always chilling and dumb. The London cops kept a swarm of helicopters in the air over the bombing scenes. That’ll do it. And Bush raised his crazy color scheme to orange, and warned us all to be “extra vigilant.” Perhaps of him.
10:11 pm on July 7, 2005
