LONDON Bombing 7 July 2005 [7/7]

At least 50 people have been killed in London, Italy's Interior Minister said
Thursday, July 07 2005, AFP

July 7 - At least 50 people have been killed in a series of explosions on London's transport system, the ANSA news agency quoted Italy's Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu as saying Thursday, though he gave no sources for the figure.

Asked by AFP to clarify the minister's comments, an interior ministry spokesman said it "never reveals its sources". ANSA quoted Pisanu as telling a political meeting earlier: "We are confronted with very serious acts which have resulted up to now in at least six explosions, one in a bus and five in the metro, and causing at least 50 deaths up to now."

He suggested "international terrorism" was responsible.

In LONDON, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "It's reasonably clear that this is a series of terrorist attacks."

"There are obviously casualties, people who have died and people who are seriously injured," he said, adding that he was cutting short his stay at the G8 summit to fly back to London.

London's police chief Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said at least one of the sites of a series of blasts contained "indications of explosives." "We are concerned that this is a coordinated attack," he said.

Two people were killed in an explosion on the underground line near the Aldgate station, a police spokesman said.

London's police chief Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said at least one of the sites of a series of blasts contained "indications of explosives", adding "we are concerned that this is a coordinated attack."

Two people were killed in an explosion on the underground line near the Aldgate station, one of six sites believed to have been hit, a police spokesman said.

The blasts had caused "terrible injuries", British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said, although he did not give specific figures.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, hosting a meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Scotland, was to give a live address at 1100 GMT on the blasts.

The roof of a double decker bus in Russell Square in the heart of London was torn off by the force of one blast, but police were unable to confirm whether or not it had been caused by a bomb.

"The explosion seemed to be at the back of the bus. The roof flew off and went up about 10 metres. It then floated back down," said witness Raj Mattoo.

"There were obviously people badly injured. A parking attendant said he thought a piece of human flesh had landed on his arm."

London Underground officials confirmed the entire underground and bus network had been suspended after they were called to incidents in Edgware Road, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, Russell Square, Aldgate East and Moorgate stations, most of which serve London's financial district.

Thousands of people poured into the streets from underground stations, some covered in blood and soot, some in tears, many visibly shocked.

"There was a loud bang and the train ground to a halt. People started panicking, screaming and crying as smoke came into the carriage," said Arash Kazerouni, 22, who had been travelling from Liverpool Street.

"A man told everyone to be calm and we were led to safety along the track."

The blasts came amid Britain's biggest ever security operation to protect the three-day G8 summit hosted by Blair in Gleneagles, Scotland some 450 miles (720 kilometres) north of London.

The Gleneagles Hotel has been sealed off by a five-mile (eight-kilometer) no-fly zone and protected by 10,000 police, a tethered blimp with infrared cameras, and makeshift lookout posts.

Despite the hugh operation, anti-capitalist protestors have scuffled with police almost daily since Saturday with scores already arrested.

In a brief statement, leader of the House of Commons, Geoff Hoon, said ministers were hold emergency talks on the blasts to assess the situation.

"The House will be aware there have been a number of very serious incidents across London this morning," he said.

Four critically injured patients were being treated at St Mary's Hospital, a major hospital in central London, a spokeswoman said.

It had also admitted eight people who had been seriously hurt and 14 with minor injuries. The serious wounds included lacerations and smoke inhalation.

"We are still taking more patients in but we cannot say how many more," the spokeswoman said. One of the evacuated stations was Stratford, which will be a key transport link for the site of the Olympic Games.

"The area is solid with people and I have seen many commuters with blackened faces just walking around looking stunned," said commuter Gerard Bithell.

In Paris, which lost out to London in its Olympics bid, officials held an emergency meeting to discuss the "London attacks".

The government would decide on a "certain number of extremely precise measures", French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, the chief executive of London's victorious 2012 Games bid, Keith Mills, said Olympic celebrations would be put on hold.

"It's terribly unfortunate in terms of timing and clearly all our celebrations of the result yesterday will have to be put on hold," Mills told reporters at the Singapore venue where London won the right to host the Games.

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Bombings brutal, inhumane
Dr Mazeni Alwi, Jul 8, 2005 Malaysiakini

The Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF) shares the Britain's and the world's sorrow over the senseless killing of and injuries to innocent people as a result of the bomb blasts in central London.

Acts of violence to resolve conflict anywhere in the world, at any period in history, achieves nought, as violence only begets further violence. Terrorism perpetuated by individuals, organisations or worse still, state-sponsored, only escalates a vicious cycle of enmity and hatred.

If indeed yesterday's bombings were carried out by al-Qaeda, as alleged by the British authorities, or a related organisation in the name of Islam, the MPF condemns their brutal and inhumane action in no uncertain terms.

Nowhere in this religion of mercy, compassion and complete submission to the Almighty is the killing and maiming of innocents ever permitted. We believe this is a position shared by all religious fraternities.

On behalf of the MPF, I extend our deepest condolences to the families of the bereaved and pray for the quick and full recovery of those injured. We pray to the Almighty to give us fortitude in this most trying of times and may He grant us the elusive peace that the world so covets.

The writer is chairman of the Muslim Professional Forum.
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Muslim Canadian Congress demands an apology from the Israeli Consul General
"Most Terrorists are Muslim," remark angers Toronto's Muslim community
MCC wants Foreign Minister Pettigrew to seek explanation from Israeli Embassy

TORONTO, 8 July 2005 - The Muslim Canadian Congress has expressed anger at the remarks of the Israeli Consul General who told a Jewish-Muslim dialogue that "most terrorists today are Muslims" and that the majority of Muslims support extremism.

Calling the remarks provocative and hateful, the MCC demanded the Israeli Consul General apologize to all Canadians Muslims, Jews, Christians and other people, who have worked hard to bring better understanding between the two communities. In a statement, the MCC also asked Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew to investigate the remarks and seek an explanation from the Israeli Ambassador.

The Israeli Consul General's remarks were made on May 4, 2005 at the Temple Har Zion Synagogue to mark a special evening titled the Daniel Pearl Dialogue for Muslim-Jewish Understanding.

During his speech, Israeli Consul General Ya'acov Brosh criticized the Muslim community and said that even though most Muslims are not terrorists, most terrorists are Muslim. He went on to say that moderate Muslims are a minority while the majority is supportive of extremism and terrorism. Elaborating his point, the Consul General said the support of extremism is evident in the fact that the second most popular name in the Muslim world is "Osama."

The Muslim Canadian Congress is deeply troubled by this stereotyping of the Muslim community. Tarek Fatah, a founding member of the MCC said, "The Israeli Consul General's remarks are a manifestation of the contempt with which successive Israeli governments hold Muslims. There is no parallel between support for Islamic extremism and parents' desire to name their sons Osama. The ridiculous parallel drawn by the Israeli diplomat has no foundation as many men named Osama, are in fact not Muslim,
but Christian."

Fatah said, "Most men named Osama were born long before Osama Bin Laden came to limelight. Osama was the name of one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad and to ridicule this name and associate people named Osama with extremism, is to stoke the fires of Islamophobia in Canada."

"I advise Consul General Ya'acov Brosh to watch the award winning CBC documentary 'Being Osama'. The documentary illustrates the fact that the name 'Osama' has nothing to do with extremism. It is a name just like any other name given to boys before and after 9/11," Fatah said. Fatah said this debate should have ended when Alexa McDonough of the NDP stood in the House of Commons, just days after 9/11, and declared, "Osama is a Canadian name." However, as is obvious from the Israeli Consul General's remarks, boys and men named Osama, along with their parents, are still being labeled as extremists, he added.

Farzana Hassan-Shahid, an Inter-faith activist, said she was shocked to hear the comments by the Israeli Consul General. "We came to a Synagogue in the spirit of goodwill and understanding, but what we heard from the Israeli diplomat was hate against Muslims and stereotyping us as terrorists," she said. Ms. Hassan-Shahid said, "What was more disturbing about the Israeli diplomat's speech was the fact that he was lustily cheered by the audience. If this is how Muslims are denigrated in their presence, I am worried what happens behind closed doors."

Raheel Raza, Director of the Forum for Learning, and a leading proponent of improved Jewish-Muslim relations, said the event at Har Zion Temple was about bridge building and dialogue, but the Israeli Consul General's speech violated the spirit of the evening. Ms. Raza said, "His remarks were inappropriate, ill-timed and smacked of intolerance and bigotry. He ruined what was set out to be an evening of peace. The Israeli Consul General should immediately apologize to all Canadian Muslims, Jews, and others who have worked tirelessly to bring a better understanding among the two communities. In one evening, the Israeli diplomat has set the clock back many years and has sowed the seeds of suspicion."

Mahitab Labib, an Egyptian-Canadian who had an exchange with the Israeli Consul General at the closing of the event, said she was deeply angered at his remarks.

Responding to the Israeli Consul General's claim that the popular slogan in the Arab World that "Islam is the solution" is actually an endorsement of terrorism, Labib said the Consul General's words reflected his hostility towards Islam. She said Ya'acov Brosh is oblivious to the fact that real terrorism in the Middle East stems from the continued violation of Palestinian Human rights, targeted assassinations, destruction of homes and the armed occupation of Palestinian lands in defiance of United Nations resolutions.

The Muslim Canadian Congress has urged Jewish Organizations in Canada to condemn the remarks of the Israeli Consul General. "Hate and stereotyping has no place in Canada and certainly not in religious institutions, be they Synagogues, Churches, Mosques, Gurdawaras or Temples. What makes this incident worse is the fact that Muslims were invited as guests to a synagogue where they were accused of being supporters of extremism," said Tarek Fatah.

http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/

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From 9/11 to 7/7: Crusade intensifies
by Abid Ullah Jan, July 8, 2005
Email: abidjan@tanzeem.org

The staged terrorist attacks are the occasions when even the most honest and since of us lose sight of the reality. One can guess it from the statements of George Galloway and others who called it "shock and awe" in London.

Galloway considers that Londoners had "paid the price" of the increased likelihood of terrorist attacks for the UK government´s role in the attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan. However sincere such comments may be, they directly support the accusations without evidence which Blair put forward within minutes of the attack.

This was not a "shock and awe" in London because it was not an attack by aggressors from outside after years of lying through their teeth to the whole world. It was just another inside job: another staged 9/11 to intensify the war on Islam. Follow the pattern to believe it.

Within hours the news on AFP site read: Blair, analysts see Islamic link to London blasts. "Well, we deserve to take a look at those experts Blair relies on. Please note: Boaz Ganor, director general of Israel´s International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism and Mordechai Kedar, a counter-terrorism analyst for Israel's public television.

Also note the language Blair used: "It is 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." Didn´t Bush use the same words? Interestingly, even Paul Martin of Canada unnecessarily referred to "our way of life" and "freedom." Everyone was talking his heart and mind today without waiting for any clue as to who committed these horrible acts.

Blair brought Islam and Muslims into the fry right away: "We know that these people act in the name of Islam, but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims, here and abroad, are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this act of terrorism every bit as much as we do." Does it ring the familiar bell of the clash of civilisations and blaming Muslims without a single shred of evidence available at hand?

Comparing what Blair uttered in the most irresponsible way to what Bush said on 9/11, one comes to the conclusion that Bush was far moderate in his allegation. Blair jumped from "our way of life" to "our values" and "their values" in a show of transparent, well rehearsed sophistry.

Bush directly referred to the beginning of a crusade after 9/11. See how Blair went far ahead without mentioning the word crusade: "We will show, by our spirit and dignity, and by our quiet but true strength that there is in the British people, that our values will long outlast theirs."

Blair and Bush's values are known to the world since they lied, invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq to continue brutal occupation and wreak terror into the lives of humiliated Iraqis. What we need to find here is the clues to this bombing from the public record available before the event unfolded on July 8, 2005 because it is confirmed that like 9/11 there would be no investigation. Even if there is any investigation, it would be simply confirm what Blair had to say today.

Those who remember, the Indian Express and others reported Associated Press story on June 24 that BBC announced it would time delay "sensitive" news. Immediately, keen observers concluded that England would soon be the next site of a staged "terror" attack.[1]

Every word that we heard from Blair and his company shows that the recent bombing was a false flag operation designed to keep the West pitted against Islam. Even if we assume that 9/11 and 7/7 are handy operations carried by Muslims, we have yet to hear from someone that these attacks have been carried out "on a way of life" or "values" of the West. All these are fig leaves, used by those who have killed millions to impose their "values" and "way of life" abroad.

It does not take one to be a Muslim to understand what is going on. It only needs a cool mind to understand that the attack only benefits empires desperate to maintain a foothold in the Middle East without further eroding public opinion. Some reports show that Israeli embassy in London was warned before the attack and Israel insists that it doesn't mean it has also carried out the attack.[2] Associated Press, however, reported that Nathanyahu change his planes due to bomb warning.[3] National Post in Canada also confirmed that the Israelis received warnings before the attack.[4]

Trying to spin their way out of this mess, Israeli embassy strongly denied early warning and claimed that it received the call after the first explosion.[5] But the claim that the call came after the first explosion doesn´t work either because for almost an hour after that first blast it was still being reported as a power surge related accident.

Just this week, it was reported that England had drafted plans to pull out their troops.[6] Is the bombing a victory for Al Qaeda in this context? Are we to believe then that the orchestrated response to these plans was to blow up a double decker bus in England? Now, can you guess what the most likely response to such an event would be: Pull the troops out faster or galvanize public support, thus keeping the troops in Iraq?

To take advantage of the staged bloody game, almost instantly a previously unheard of Islamic group [7](The Secret Organization of al-Qaeda in Europe?) took credit – even though the translation falls apart under scrutiny because the Qur'an is improperly cited.[8] This is just the beginning and the war lords are already giving references to "Islamofascists" in their Islamophobic magazines such as National Review.[9] Jerusalem Post came out with the headline: "Rules of Conflict for a World War" (July 07, 2005).

We must not forget that Madrid bombers were linked to Spanish Security Service,[10] and other reports from sources such as BBC cited suspects as police informants.[11] As the co-opted media analysts are trying to draw links between Madrid and London, let us not forget the part where the suspects were connected to the government.

What gives us the motive right there is the statement by Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, who said London terror attack near G8 summit "works to ... Western world´s advantage, for people to experience something like this together" along with who really did it.[12]

There is not even a shred of evidence available so far that could implicate Muslims. However, what is undoubtedly clear is that those who staged these terror attacks once again exhibited the sort of calculation and ruthlessness that has come to be associated with the ideology at the heart of the crusade in the name of a "war on terror": Islamofascism.

Notes

[1] "BBC to time-delay live sensitive broadcasts," Associated Press, the Indian Express, June 24, 2005. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=73187

[2] Report: Israel Was Warned Ahead of First Blast 13:30 Jul 07, '05 / 30 Sivan http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=853465765 Also see: Britain failed to protect London even after Israel warned Britain of coming Al-Qaeda terror – inefficiency or conspiracy?
India Daily News Bureau Jul. 7, 2005. URL: http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/3489.asp Also see: http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=85346 Also see: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2005/070705israelwarned.htm

[3] AMY TEIBEL, "Netanyahu Changed Plans Due to Warning," Associated Press, July 07, 2005. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050707/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_britain_explosions_1

[4] http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=ca84a44d-41c2-4b9f-b9a5-9b6f0bdce990

[5] Yossi Melman, "Israeli Embassy strongly denies report it received early warning of attacks," Haaretz, July 07, 2005. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/597425.html

[6] Jimmy Burns and Peter Spiegel, "MoD plans Iraq troop withdrawal," Financial Times, July 4, 2005 22:02. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a1384df4-ecbc-11d9-9d20-00000e2511c8.html

[7] http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/security_britain_claim_dc

[8] Phony reports link Al Qaeda to London attacks, Al-Jazeera. See: http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8925 and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8496293/

[9] Frank J. Gaffny Jr. "War Footing: The attack in London is a stark reminder of what we must do to prevail.," National Review, July 07, 2005 http://www.nationalreview.com/gaffney/gaffney200507071128.asp

[10] http://prisonplanet.tv/articles/june2004/062104madridbombers.htm

[11] Spain suspects "were informants" BBC, Thursday, 29 April, 2004, 14:39 GMT 15:39 UK

[12] http://mediamatters.org/items/200507070005

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PAS kunjungi pejabat Suruhanjaya Britain ucap takziah
Friday, July 08 2005
Oleh Wan Nordin Wan Yaacob

KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Julai (Hrkh) - Enam pemimpin utama PAS telah mengunjungi Pesuruhjaya Tinggi Britain, di Jalan Ampang sebentar tadi bagi menyerahkan ucapan takziah kepada kedutaan itu berhubung tragedi pengeboman di Britain yang berlaku semalam.

Rombongan yang diketuai Timbalan Presiden PAS, Ustaz Nasharudin Mat Isa itu menyerahkan sepucuk surat ucapan takziah kepada Ketua Bahagian Ekonomi, Politik dan Diplomasi Awam Pesuruhjaya Tinggi Britain di Malaysia, Edward Hobart di sini. Surat takziah itu diserah kepada Hobart untuk disampaikan kepada Perdana Menteri Britain, Tony Blair.

Turut hadir ialah, Setiausaha Agung PAS, Dato' Kamaruddin Jaafar; Bendahari, Dr Hatta Ramli, Ketua Pemuda PAS, Salahuddin Ayob, Ahli Jawatankuasa Kerja (AJK) PAS Pusat, Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi dan Hanipa Maiden.

Menurut Kamaruddin, PAS sendiri mengutuk serangan tersebut yang disifatkan sebagai tidak berperi kemanusiaan.

Beliau juga menggesa, pemimpin negara G8 yang sedang bermesyuarat di Scotland itu segera mencari penyelesaian terhadap isu-isu global ekonomi dan politik yang dipercayai menjadi punca kepada keganasan.

"Keganasan dan pembunuh orang awam adalah bertentangan dengan prinsip Islam," katanya.

Sementara itu Hobart yang bercakap bagi pihak kedutaan Britain di Malaysia berkata, pihaknya mengalu-alukan ucapan takziah itu.

Katanya lagi, beliau menghargai kunjugan rasmi PAS dalam masa negaranya dilanda tragedi yang menyedihkan.

Menurut laporan laman web BBC sehingga kini serangan tersebut yang berlaku jam 7.51 pagi waktu tempatan melibatkan tujuh letupan di rangkaian stesen kereta api bawah tanah termasuk sebuah bas dua tingkat menyebabkan 37 orang terbunuh dan lebih 700 cedera.

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PRESS RELEASE, 7th July 2005

Muslims condemn vicious attacks on our capital

The Islamic Society of Britain (ISB) totally condemns the vicious and indiscriminate attacks that have shocked our capital. The ISB extends its deep-felt sympathy to the families of those killed and to all those who have been hurt or wounded in the explosions. The ISB stands in solidarity with the nation.

It is absolutely imperative that we all, Muslim or not, as citizens wishing to live together in a secure, civilised society, stand up and fight these acts. "This is a time for us all to pull together and heal each other's wounds. It's a time to draw close in tenderness but also in outrage. We hope the perpetrators are brought to justice for the utter horror of their attacks at such a critical stage", commented Dr Munir Ahmed, the President of ISB.

In the aftermath of Live 8, with Africa thrust so high on our agenda, with climate change discussions laid on the table, in the jubilant celebrations of London winning the Olympic bid, these incidents take on an even more stark significance. "This is a time for our nation indeed the whole of the world to close ranks and condemn in no uncertain terms those behind these acts. Let us keep alive the Olympic spirit and see solidarity of our hearts and souls; terrorism will not defeat us!" stressed Dr Ahmed.

Notes to Editors

For further information please contact the ISB Media representatives on: 0709 201 3614.

The Islamic Society of Britain (ISB) was established in 1990 in response to the needs of the growing British Muslim community to learn about, and to practice their faith in a British context. It is an affiliate member of the Muslim Council of Britain. For details about ISB activities please visit: www.isb.org.uk.

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London bombings: a rapid response
Mike Marqusee, 7 July 2005

This morning, the suffering, grief and terror that have visited so many innocents in recent years came to London. We have not paid the kind of price that people have paid in Fallujah, Najaf or Jenin, but it is a steep price nonetheless. And its root causes are the same.

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.

As I write, the wreckage is being cleared and the casualties counted. But Blair has already appeared on television to address the nation, pledging to defend `our values' and "our way of life" against those who would "impose extremism on the world". He spoke of the unity of "civilised nations" in resisting "terrorism". While the delivery may
be slicker, his "us" vs "them" world-view was indistinguishable from Bush's. Even by Blair's standards, it was a performance of nauseating hypocrisy, as he sought to seize the moral high ground in relation to violence and destruction that he himself helped unleash.

The Labour government, egged on by the Conservative opposition and the right-wing press, will now seek to play on fear and drum up vindictive feelings. At this stage, however, it is unclear how the British population will respond. Will the mood more resemble post 9/11 USA or Spain in the wake of the Madrid carnage?

Coming the day after London's Olympic triumph, the attacks are a grim reminder that media-hyped feel-good boosterism will do nothing to mitigate the UK's plummeting global standing. Blair's closeness to Bush, his championship of the US neo-liberal model in the European Union, his aggressive pursuit of the `war against terror' have all diminished Britain in the eyes of Europe and the world.

This is a reality of which many people in Britain are acutely aware. Opposition to the invasion of Iraq spread across every sector of British society, and was overwhelming in London. Subsequent revelations concerning the bogus claims about Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction have further embittered public opinion – and made the Prime Minister, according to every poll, one of the least trusted and most disrespected individuals in the country.

Of course, Blair was able to overcome this decided disadvantage and get himself re-elected in May thanks to the absence of meaningful opposition within the established political system. That absence will be felt acutely in the days to come as Britain wrestles with the consequences of the bomb blasts.

The Blair government will doubtless seek to use this morning's atrocity to escalate its alarming attacks on civil liberties. The country's 1.5 million strong Muslim population, already subject to police harassment, will come under increased pressure. (Commentators
have been quick to claim that the bombs may be the work of people hiding anonymously within the `law-abiding Muslim community'.) Anti-globalisation protesters – currently gathered outside the G8 summit at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland – will be branded as
"terrorists" and dealt with accordingly.

Fomenting and exploiting fear has been a speciality of the Blair regime. Asylum seekers, teenagers wearing hoods, militant Muslims, anarchists, paedophiles … the list of targets is lengthy and frighteningly flexible. Whenever there is a need to distract people from the impact of the government's neo-liberal economic policies, from its failure to rebuild the public sector, from its misbegotten foreign adventures, a new scapegoat is conjured up. The bomb blasts may aid this process, but there is also reason to hope that this time
there will be substantial public resistance.

On 15 February 2003, some two million people gathered in London to demonstrate against the imminent attack on Iraq. I remember speaking to a neighbour who told me proudly that he was going on the march – his first ever protest march – because he was damned if he was going to let Tony Blair endanger his children's lives by making London a prime target for attack.

Everything that has happened since then – the exposure of lie after lie, the deaths of British soldiers, the refusal of ground realities in Iraq to conform to Blair's scenario - has further entrenched popular resentment of the war, widely seen as a result of Blair's
determination to court favour with George Bush. The prime minister calculates that the bomb blasts will unite British people behind their government and that a touch of well-rehearsed statesman-like gravitas will refresh his image. 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.

Mike Marqusee
London, www.mikemarqusee.com

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Siapa disebalik pengeboman di London?
Oleh: Khadija Abdul Qahaar, JUS
http://www.maynetwork.net

Bagi sesiapa yang mengikuti perkembangan dunia, maka boleh dikatakan bahawa hanya masa sahaja yang akan menentukan bila serangan di United Kingdom akan berlaku, terutamanya kerana peranan yang telah dimainkan oleh Britain dalam pembunuhan kejam di Afghans dan Iraq dan sokongan membutanya terhadap apa yang Bush namakan sebagai Memerangi Keganasan. Walau bagaimanapun, ia kelihatan bahawa kejadian tersebut mungkin bukan dilakukan oleh al-Qaeda.

Di saat al-Qaeda terus dipersalahkan di atas kejadian yang membunuh 45 orang dan mencederakan seramai 300 yang lain, apabila tiga bom meletup pada rangkaian keretapi bawah tanah London dan yang keempat meletup dalam sebuah bas dua tingkat pada pagi hari Khamis yang sibuk, terdapat banyak keraguan dan kecacatan dalam apa yang dinamakan sebagai laporan rasmi yang dikatakan telah dikeluarkan oleh "Pertubuhan Sulit al-Qaeda di Eropah".

Sebelum ini sebuah kumpulan yang tidak dikenali telah mengedarkan dakwaan bahawa mereka bertanggungjawab di atas kejadian tersebut sebaik sahaja kejadian tersebut berlaku, satu salinan telah diterima oleh JUS. Walau bagaimanapun kenyataan tersebut terdapat kesilapan
di dalamnya yang menunjukkan kepada kita bahawa bahan tersebut bukannya dari kumpulan al-Qaeda. Selama ini, JUS telah menterjemah kenyataan al-Qaeda setiap hari untuk menceritakan kepada pembaca kisah yang sebenar berlaku dalam Memerangi Keganasan dan kami dapati banyak masalah dengan apa yang dinamakan sebagai kenyataan rasmi ini.

Pertamanya, kenyataan al-Qaeda akan dihantarkan dulu kepada wartawan Arab dan bukannya dari BBC atau Reuters. Kenyataan ini mula ditimbulkan dalam media utama dan selepas itu baru diambil oleh media Arab di mana ia amat bercanggah dengan apa yang pernah dilakukan oleh al-Qaeda sebelum ini. Fakta ini sahaja telah menyebabkan kesahihan kenyataan tersebut diragui.

Kedua, Bahasa Arab yang digunakan dalam dakwaan tersebut adalah salah dari segi nahunya. Kenyataan al-Qaeda kebiasaannya menggunakan bahasa Arab yang biasanya menurut bahasa ibunda mereka. Mungkin yang paling penting ialah penggunaan ayat al-Quran yang salah dan tidak lengkap dalam kenyataan dakwaan tersebut. Mungkin kesilapan nahu boleh dimaafkan tetapi bagi saudara Tauhid atau pejuang mjahiddin yang hidup dan mati mereka demi kerana ayat-ayat Allah SWT akan pasti mengetahu ayat Allah dengan tepat dan tidak akan melakukan
kesilapan yang di anggap besar ini.

Lebih kurang empat bulan yang lalu, khabar angin tentang serangan di UK mula ditimbulkan apabila pemimpin kumpulan muhajirun yang telah diharamkan, Omar Bakri Muhammad mengisytiharkan Britain sebagai Dar al-Harb (Bumi yang dihalalkan perang) yang menimbulkan keresahan di seluruh Britain termasuk umat Islam. Malah ada yang membuat rumusan bahawa Bakri dan beberapa pengikutnya telah terlibat samada secara langsung atau tidak langsung dengan serangan yang berlaku pada pagi tersebut. Tetapi agak mustahil bagi beliau yang selama ini mendapat segala kemudahan hidup di London sanggup melakukan serangan tersebut.

Mungkin dalam masa akan datang al-Qaeda akan dipersalahkan melakukan serangan tersebut tetapi mmereka tidak boleh mengaitkannya dengan dakwaan bertanggungjawab yang telah tersebar dengan meluas sekarang ini. Walau apapun yang dapat didedahkan melalui hasil penyiasatan yang mereka lakukan, mereka masih tidak akan mendapat sokongan dari rakyat dalam menyerang Iraq.

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