Robert Fisk: The reality of this barbaric bombing
If we are fighting insurgency in Iraq, what makes us think insurgency won’t come to us?
“If you bomb our cities,” Osama bin Laden said in one of his recent video tapes, “we will bomb yours.” There you go, as they say. It was crystal clear Britain would be a target ever since Tony Blair decided to join George Bush’s “war on terror” and his invasion of Iraq. We had, as they say, been warned. The G8 summit was obviously chosen, well in advance, as Attack Day.
And it’s no use Mr Blair telling us yesterday that “they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear”. “They” are not trying to destroy “what we hold dear”. They are trying to get public opinion to force Blair to withdraw from Iraq, from his alliance with the United States, and from his adherence to Bush’s policies in the Middle East.
It’s up to the anti-war movement to restrain the thirst for more blind revenge.
The bomb blasts were grimly predictable. Indeed, they had been widely and repeatedly predicted not least by rank-and-file Londoners, who knew that by taking Britain into Iraq side-by-side with the USA, Tony Blair had placed their city in the firing line.
Much of the media will pump out the message that we are all under threat from faceless barbarians irrationally opposed to “our way of life”. It will be up to the anti-war movement to articulate a different analysis, to remind people that this attack is a consequence of our role in dishing out brutality in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, and to insist that no amount of moralistic posturing by our leaders can substitute for a desperately needed change in policy.ce to Bush’s policies in the Middle East.
“Gill Hubbard spokesperson for G8 Alternatives says, ‘Our thoughts are with all of those killed and wounded in this morning’s terrorist bombings in London. The British government cannot avoid its responsibility for these terrible attacks, which are a consequence of its support for war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must redouble our efforts for global peace and justice.’
MP George Galloway blamed the War in Iraq as the cause of the bombs in the House of Commons today, it was reported on the radio (mp3) No one on the tele channels has mentioned Galloway, or the War in Iraq.”
Now is the time for the antiwar movement to redouble its organizing and to build even stronger for the nationwide Sept. 24 demonstrations. More than ever, our voice needs to be heard. And loudly.