London Bombings - Counterterrorism Blog Updates

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Update: Just heard the press conference between Prime Minister Blair of Great Britain and Prime Minister Howard of Australia - while I will wait for the transcript, both Mr. Howard and Mr. Blair disassembled some idiot reporter trying to blame the terrorist attacks on their nations' involvement in Iraq. Mr. Howard pointed out that OBL and his cohorts were attacking long before the invasion of Iraq (eg 9/11, Bali, USS Cole, etc) and that OBL's first mention of Australia was as a result of its involvment with East Timor --all occurred before Iraq)... Mr. Blair said something to the effect the the terrorism was the result of a long developing process and it would take a long time to take it down. Both noted the need to carry on as normal so that the terrorists achieve nothing...and that the responsibility for terrorist bombing lies with the...terrorists.

Update2: Looks like inept fusing saved lives... I wonder whose side these extremists will claim God is on... Too bad it wasn't a premature detonation...during assembly.

Update3: Transcript of Mr. Howard's reply to the idiot reporter is here (hat tip: Instapundit):

Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.

And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.

Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn't have done that?

When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn't be in Afghanistan?

When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq -- a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations -- when al Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.

Now I don't know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can't put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I've cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder.

PRIME MIN. BLAIR: And I agree 100 percent with that. (Laughter.)

I, of course, added the USS Cole and should have added Khobar Towers...

Update4: (Hat tip again to Instapundit): Video here and a better list of pre-Iraq attacks here.

Update5: (Hat tip to Michelle Malkin) - TATP info . And here's a piece on a man who has a TATP detector.