Lunatics

Statement from Tony Blair
I am just going to make a short statement to you on the terrible events that have happened in London earlier today, and I hope you understand that at the present time we are still trying to establish exactly what has happened, and there is a limit to what information I can give you, and I will simply try and tell you the information as best I can at the moment.

It is reasonably clear that there have been a series of terrorist attacks in London. There are obviously casualties, both people that have died and people seriously injured, and our thoughts and prayers of course are with the victims and their families.

It is my intention to leave the G8 within the next couple of hours and go down to London and get a report, face-to-face, with the police, and the emergency services and the Ministers that have been dealing with this, and then to return later this evening.

It is the will of all the leaders at the G8 however that the meeting should continue in my absence, that we should continue to discuss the issues that we were going to discuss, and reach the conclusions which we were going to reach. Each of the countries round that table have some experience of the effects of terrorism and all the leaders, as they will indicate a little bit later, share our complete resolution to defeat this terrorism.

It is 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 and the environment. Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack, or a series of terrorist attacks, it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G8. There will be time to talk later about this.

It is important however that those engaged in terrorism realise 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 civilised nations throughout the world. (source)

A previously unknown group claimed responsibility on an Islamist web site in the name of al-Qaeda for this attack on London. They call themselves the “Secret Group of al-Qaeda’s Jihad in Europe”. Below is the statement they issued:

The time has come for the revenge from crusading Zionist nation of Britain a response to the massacres carried out by Britain in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The heroic Mujahedeen carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and fright from the north to the south, east and west.

We warned the British government and the British people again and again.

We have fulfilled our promise and carried out a blessed military raid in Britain after hard efforts carried out by heroic Mujahedeen. The efforts went on for a long time, guaranteeing success.

We still warn the governments of Denmark, Italy and all the Crusader governments that they will meet the same fate if they don’t pull their forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan. (source)

These people are stupid. These attacks will only serve to further galvanize the resolve of free nations to fight these terror groups, where ever we are. If they were smart, they would wait it out. The war in Iraq has not gone as planned. It has not gone well, and many have have over time heavily criticized the Bush Administration for continuing in a war many believe we cannot win. In fact, it was only a few weeks ago that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told us that we may be there for at least ten more years. Prime Minister Blair has suffered the same criticism in England.

So, it’s easy for reasonable people to become fatigued by all this fighting and loss of life. Then, this morning, London was attacked. This only adds fuel to our will to defeat these fanatics. I have to assume that they are crazy. No rational person would do such a thing.

There are just some people that I will never understand. Bush, Blair, Rumsfeld, Cheney; I understand them. I don’t agree with anything they say, for the most part, but I do understand them. The people who would do such a cowardly act of killing innocent people, and hiding behind a website, in my opinion, deserve just about anything they get. I’m sure it’s coming.

Minute-by-minute account of the events