Home > Robert Fisk : The reality of this barbaric bombing
Robert Fisk : The reality of this barbaric bombing
by Open-Publishing - Friday 8 July 200515 comments
Attack-Terrorism UK Robert Fisk
The reality of this barbaric bombing
by Robert Fisk
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. The Spanish paid the price for their support for Bush - and Spain’s subsequent retreat from Iraq proved that the Madrid bombings achieved their objectives - while the Australians were made to suffer in Bali.
It is easy for Tony Blair to call yesterdays bombings "barbaric" - of course they were - but what were the civilian deaths of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the children torn apart by cluster bombs, the countless innocent Iraqis gunned down at American military checkpoints? When they die, it is "collateral damage"; when "we" die, it is "barbaric terrorism".
If we are fighting insurgency in Iraq, what makes us believe insurgency won’t come to us? One thing is certain: if Tony Blair really believes that by "fighting terrorism" in Iraq we could more efficiently protect Britain - fight them there rather than let them come here, as Bush constantly says - this argument is no longer valid.
To time these bombs with the G8 summit, when the world was concentrating on Britain, was not a stroke of genius. You don’t need a PhD to choose another Bush-Blair handshake to close down a capital city with explosives and massacre more than 30 of its citizens. The G8 summit was announced so far in advance as to give the bombers all the time they needed to prepare.
A co-ordinated system of attacks of the kind we saw yesterday would have taken months to plan - to choose safe houses, prepare explosives, identify targets, ensure security, choose the bombers, the hour, the minute, to plan the communications (mobile phones are giveaways). Co-ordination and sophisticated planning - and the usual utter ruthlessness with regard to the lives of the innocent - are characteristic of al-Qa’ida. And let us not use - as our television colleagues did yesterday - "hallmarks", a word identified with quality silver rather than base metal.
And now let us reflect on the fact that yesterday, the opening of the G8, so critical a day, so bloody a day, represented a total failure of our security services - the same intelligence "experts" who claim there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when there were none, but who utterly failed to uncover a months-long plot to kill Londoners.
Trains, planes, buses, cars, metros. Transportation appears to be the science of al-Qa’ida’s dark arts. No one can search three million London commuters every day. No one can stop every tourist. Some thought the Eurostar might have been an al-Qa’ida target - be sure they have studied it - but why go for prestige when your common or garden bus and Tube train are there for the taking.
And then come the Muslims of Britain, who have long been awaiting this nightmare. Now every one of our Muslims becomes the "usual suspect", the man or woman with brown eyes, the man with the beard, the woman in the scarf, the boy with the worry beads, the girl who says she’s been racially abused.
I remember, crossing the Atlantic on 11 September 2001 - my plane turned round off Ireland when the US closed its airspace - how the aircraft purser and I toured the cabins to see if we could identify any suspicious passengers. I found about a dozen, of course, totally innocent men who had brown eyes or long beards or who looked at me with "hostility". And sure enough, in just a few seconds, Osama bin Laden turned nice, liberal, friendly Robert into an anti-Arab racist.
And this is part of the point of yesterday’s bombings: to divide British Muslims from British non-Muslims (let us not mention the name Christians), to encourage the very kind of racism that Tony Blair claims to resent.
But here’s the problem. To go on pretending that Britain’s enemies want to destroy "what we hold dear" encourages racism; what we are confronting here is a specific, direct, centralised attack on London as a result of a "war on terror" which Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara has locked us into. Just before the US presidential elections, Bin Laden asked: "Why do we not attack Sweden?"
Lucky Sweden. No Osama bin Laden there. And no Tony Blair.
Forum posts
8 July 2005, 20:52
How revealing that you take this time to air your views on Blair and Bush. Yes, they are to blame. I get it. The terrorist are not evil. They are just reacting to Bush and Blair. So, what is the solution. You who constantly criticize never offer a solution. What is the solution? Do we let the terrorists kill and say ok, leave them alone, its their thing to kill, etc. It seems to me you now hate anyone who tries to do anything about it. Bush invaded, he is evil, Blair helped, so he is evil too. You just can’t stand anyone who tries to do anything. The problem comes down to this: you do not believe evil can exist in the terrorists and the west is to blame. So please give us then your solution. You take great pride in condeming Bush and Blair. Fine. But how would you clean up this mess? You are the brilliant editorial guy.
8 July 2005, 22:38
It’s from robert "fucking" fisk - a well known crackpot from England. Ignore him. He is like so many on this website - bush is evil, blair is a liar blah blah blah. Terrorists, well, you can UNDERSTAND why they do it...
9 July 2005, 05:22
What is it going to take to make you right-wing ideologues accept the possibility that the Bushies started this whole thing by orchestrating 9/11. Follow the motives, follow the money. Who got what they wanted? Who has been caught lying and cheating repeatedly? Who destroyed evidence and blocked investigations? Which corporations stood to gain from this war and do they have any access to the decision-making of this admin?
Explore the intensity of the emotions that reading these ideas brings about in you. Is it natural? Is it a feeling you usually get when somebody is just dead wrong, or is it much more than that? I first started to look into ’alternative’ explainations for 9/11 when I realized that my emotions were being played with.
Did you know that the UK announced just a few days ago that it was planning on removing it’s troops from Iraq? This came about because of popular unrest with Blair’s role in the whole mess. Why attack British citizens when they had just done you a favor? How come you conservative war-hawks can never put two and two together? The war needed a booster shot as far as public opinion is concered - time to dust of "Al Queada" and stir up some more pro-war sentiment. "Oh, our contries are noble and free, we would never do anything like that!" BS, they have before. And it isn’t our contries who are doing this, it is a small group of very powerful men who have found a way to captivate the public’s collective mind through a mixture of fear, racism and blood-lust.
11 July 2005, 17:23
You spew your venom Fisk, ok so SHOW US THE PROOF, GIVE US FACTS "...that the Bushies started this whole thing..." show us the proof! "who got what they wanted? show us the proof! And just for my clarification who is the "who got what they want"? what did they want? Who has "been caught lying..." (now which lies were they?) "...cheating..." (how?who?) "...destroyed evidence..." (which evidence of what?), "blocked investigations? (into what?). "Which corporations stood to gain from this war..." (tell us again dear Fisk which corporations were they?, how much gain?). And your learned opinion please, hopefully based on facts which we would love to hear, of whether these unnamed corporations actually do "...have any access to the decision-making of this admin?"). Ahhhh the "...intensity of (my) emotions"..., the anger, Mr Fisk, is almost overpowering. You and your ilk have led to more destruction and death in the war than the combat. I see you liberals as one vast left wing conspiracy to do what? Where is your agenda, what would you have us do in the face of Islamic fundamentalism? How should we deal with those who want nothing more than our complete and total annihilation? You, sir, are devoid of reason and totally out of touch with reality.
8 July 2005, 22:57
I could not agree more.
Terror of all states: USA, Britain and Groups: Al Quaida, IRA is evil.
Terror and violence is not a solution, because it does not change the attitutes of people.
Blair’s speech shows that moral comes down to a simple equation:
USA and Britain bombing, murder, torture = good doers work
Iraqi who defend their country = evil and terrorists
Mr. Blair should have a look to the faces of people in Iraq after they have bombed by the terrorist airforces of Britain and USA. This people were not only helpless, they were also defenseless.
Or is it just: It is ok if we doing it.
8 July 2005, 23:28
You have got to be kidding, right? They’ve been bombing us, the U.S. and Israel for decades- long before Iraq. Saddam paid families in palestine 30,000 to strap bombs to their children so they can ’meet allah’. Sure, he wasn’t technically part of Osama’s group, but terrorists are terrorists, and its about damn time we did something. They brought the war upon themselves, we are just now reacting. God bless you Prime Minister Blair for holding firm. Don’t let these pansies influence you doing the right thing! These are the same type of people that told us to ignore Germany and they wouldn’t invade the U.K. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.
9 July 2005, 00:51
All caught up with the new affair and yes the new words that always go nowhere,well actually will justify the continuing Bush bull. The fact is that this ALL started with Bush an all created scenario set of events(like this one) to justify the great hidden agenda.I know it sounds big but I think we can all feel more or less comfortable that really we have been set up or programmed to accept their bull agenda that uses fear to justify. I totally agree with the notion that if you hurt me or dare touch my family I will feel to hurt you and yours so Laden’s, you bomb us we bomb you is like totally duh normal in reaction. Look what Bush is doing to Iraq!! and the call for the death penalty. An eye for an eye eh Bush? You guys, well everybody actually will feel the same and you even have alot more in common than you act like. Actually things should be way more worse with what Bush has done to Iraq. Anyways I actually have no faith in what the final outcome will be because the root of the matter being Bush is sick at the heart!
10 July 2005, 07:35
I’m not kidding you! Learn who started the wars after 1945. It was always U.S. sometimes because of a phony theory, but it was always fear.
Thanks God I was not raised as a stupid American.
10 July 2005, 17:01
I’m afraid, dear writer, that you, and countless others who have had a brainwashing number done on their brains by the whoreish media, just dont get it. MOST "Terrorist" attacks come from within our own "governments".. that is the powers controlling the world (and you) need a reaction to support their agenda. problem: they want more wars - solution: launch another "terrorist" attack to rally public support for it.
The flimsy "evidence" of the London bombings is as laughable (if it wasnt so tragic) as the 911 "evidence".... the plan is to dump the blame on muslims (again) to enable further atrocities to continue throughout the middle east.....invasions....genocide etc. Its time to wake up to the fact that thousands of innocent people around the world are being killed and injured as part of this sick, sick game.
9 July 2005, 01:17
Looks like Mr. Fisk is trying to win another Fiskie Award.
9 July 2005, 02:33
It isn’t only Tony who is showing his machoness. I hear younger Brits (guys under 50) talking about how Britain survived the Nazi bombings and it hasn’t deterred the Brits.Well, those twits should shut their mouths, since they have no recollection of the Nazi bombings. Let’s hear what they have to say when the toll is 2500 casualties. Or 100,000 as in Iraq.
9 July 2005, 10:25
A wonderful article - perspicacious and definitive. I wish you’d mention John Howard and Australia. Under this government we are but a puppy dog at the heals of George W and his gang. Woe unto us! Thank you Robert Fisk. Very sincerely, Marty Morrison
12 July 2005, 12:08
Thank you Mr. Fisk,
I cannot imagine a better invitation to common sense. It is unbeliavable what happened untill now after the 9/11. Mr. Bush began with a story and as his holding places crumble into dust he made up new versions of the old tale to keep the worl hypnotized and unfortunately Mr. Blair has been allways on the wake.
He began with his real intentions which was a "crusade" then he told us about VMD and now he expects us to believe that you must fight over there instead of here. Killing other people is OK if you have invented a stupid cover like"taking freedom" to world’s less lucky parts. He is right in that his campain has been successfull in accomplishing its goals in the meaning that he has freed at leas 500 thousand people’s souls from their bodies.
27 July 2005, 15:46
570: Mohammed is born in Mecca
573: Abu Bekr, Mohammed’s father in law and first Caliph of the Mohammedans is born
606: Fatima, Mohammed’s daughter is born
610: Mohammed has a vision on Mount Hira
615: Mohammed starts teaching his religion.
622: Mohammed is forced to flee Mecca for Medina. This event is called the Hegira and is year one on the calendar for Islam.
624: Mohammed marries Aisha who is the ten-year-old daughter of Abu Bekr.
625: Mohammed begins to dictate the Koran.
627: Mohammed’s enemies from Mecca besiege Medina and slaughter 700 Jews.
628: Mohammed captures Mecca and writes letters to all the rulers of the world explaining the principles of the Moslem faith.
632: Mohammed dies he is replaced by Abu Bekr who makes his capital Medina. Fatima also dies.
633: The religion of Mohammedanism as it is known spreads to Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria taking those cities from the Christians.
634: Abu Bekr dies and is replaced by Mohammed’s advisor, Omar I. Omar will spread the religion to Syria, Persia, and Egypt.
635: Damascus becomes the capital of the caliphs. Gaza is captured.
637: Jerusalem is conquered by the Arabs. Arabs are exposed to Islam.
638: Persia is besieged by the Moslems and asks for help from China.
639: The Arabs attack Armenia.
641: The Library of Alexandria is destroyed by the Arabs. Omar destroys the Persian Empire. The caliphs will rule the country till 1258 and Islam will replace the religion of Zoroaster.
642: The Eastern Roman Empire is weakened by the Arab conquest of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syria. The Amr Mosque is built in Cairo.
643: The Muslims conquer Tripoli. The building of the Dome of the Rock begins.
646: The Byzantine Navy recaptures Alexandria.
649: The Arabs conquer Cyprus.
650: Caliph Othman puts the Koran into chapters. He also introduces the first organized news service.
652: The Arabs reach their southern limit at Aswan.
655: A Muslim fleet destroys the Byzantine fleet at Lycia.
656: Caliph Othman murdered.
658: The Omayyad’s rise to power in Damascus. They will become a family of Caliph’s in 660 and start a style of building.
661: Caliph Ali, nephew of Mohammed, murdered.
670: The Arabs attack Northern Africa.
671: "Greek Fire" is used against the Arabs during their siege of Constantinople.
674: The Arabs reach the Indus River.
679: Yezid I becomes Caliph.
683: Moawiyah II becomes Caliph.
684: Abdelmelik becomes Caliph.
693: Justinian II is defeated by the Arabs at Sebastopolis, Cilicia. Justinian was a Byzantine emperor who had invaded Arab territory for Christianity.
694: Arabs overrun Armenia
695: First Arab coinage.
697: The Arabs destroy Carthage.
700: The Arabs conquer Algiers and Christianity in North Africa is wiped out.
705: Walid I becomes Caliph. The Great Mosque is built in Damascus.
711: Spain with the exception of Asturias becomes an Arab state.
712: The Muslims conquer Samarkand, Seville, and an Indian state is established in Sind.
716: The Arabs conquer Lisbon.
717: Caliph Omar II grants tax exemption to all believers.
720: The Arabs cross into France. Yezid becomes Caliph. Abu Masa Dshaffar, who invents sulfuric acid, metric acid, aqua regia, and nitrate of silver, begins work.
724: Hisham becomes Caliph.
732: Charles Martel defeats the Arabs at Tours and stops the westward expansion of the religion.
744: Mervan II becomes Caliph he is the last of the Omayyads.
748: The Arab Navy is destroyed at Cyprus.
750: The Abbasids take over the Caliph office with their first Caliph Abu-al-Abbis. This year begins the study of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, optics, and chemistry in Arab Spain.
751: Western Asia embraces Islam. Islam fractions into four sects: Sunnites, Hafenities, Shafites, and Malikites.
754: Al Mansur becomes Caliph.
755: The Cordoba family takes the Caliph office until 1031.
763: Caliph al-Mansur moves the capital to Baghdad.
775: Caliph Mahdi starts an inquisition.
782: The Arab scientist Jabir starts to separate the study of Chemistry from alchemy.
809: Caliph al-Amin takes office.
810: Arab mathematician Muhammed ibn Musa al Chwarazmi starts to study equations which he calls Algebra.
826: The Arabs take Crete and plunder the Greek isles. The following year they will invade Sicily and Sardinia.
832: The Arabs invade Egypt
833: Samarra becomes the new capital of Islam.
838: Arabs sack Marseilles and settle in southern Italy. They also manage to defeat the Byzantine Army.
846: The Arabs sack Rome and damage the Vatican.
847: Mottawakkil becomes Caliph. He is the last Caliph of the whole Islam religion. After this the religion since it has split no longer listens to a caliph from another section.
850: The Arabs invent coffee.
858: Vikings are expelled by the Arabs from their lands.
869: Malta is captured by the Arabs.
880: The Arabs lose Italy.
888: The Arabs occupy Garde-Freinet on the coast of Provence.
900: Christians begin the reconquest of Spain from the Arabs. The Arab physician Rhases declares plague, consumption, smallpox, and rabies to be infectious diseases.
904: Salonika is sacked by Muslim pirates.
916: Arabs are expelled from central Italy.
935: Algiers is built by Arabs.
939: The Arabs lose Madrid.
961: The Arabs lose Crete
968: The Arabs found Cairo and lose Antioch.
975: Arabs lose Garde-Freinet
994: Arabs destroy the monastery of Monte Cassino. This is where the first rules for monks were established.
1004: Arabs sack Pisa.
1009: Muslims sack the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
1015: the Arabs conquer Sardinia.
1033: The Arabs lose Castile
1052: The Arabs lose Sardinia.
1075: The Turks, who are Muslim, take Syria and Palestine
1085: Toledo is taken from Arabs.
1086: The Muslims revive the Almoravid dynasty in a move to take back Spain.
1094: Valencia is taken from the Arabs.
1095: Pope Urban II starts The First Crusade.
1097: The Crusaders defeat the Turks at Dorylaeum, and take Nicaea.
1098: The Crusaders take Antioch
1099: The Crusaders take Jerusalem
1104: The Crusaders take Acre. This marks the end of the First Crusade
1125: The Almohades conquer Morocco.
1144: The Turks take Edessa.
1145: Pope Eugene III proclaims The Second Crusade.
1147: The Second Crusade ends in Asia Minor.
1176: General Saladin conquers Syria for the Arabs.
1183: General Saladin takes Aleppo.
1187: Saladin takes Jerusalem.
1189: Third Crusade is proclaimed.
1191: Richard I and his Crusade Army takes Cyprus
1193: Saladin dies and the Third Crusade ends
1200: Islam starts to replace Indian religions.
1202: The Fourth Crusade begins.
1203: The Arabs conquer Upper India.
1204: Crusaders take Constantinople and the Fourth Crusade is declared over.
1212: The Children’s Crusade begins.
1217: The Children’s Crusade fails to take Egypt and ends.
1228: The Sixth Crusade begins. It would end the next year with no gains.
1230: The Crusaders manage to bring Leprosy into Europe.
1236: The Arabs lose Cordoba to Castile.
1244: The Egyptians take Jerusalem.
1248: The Seventh Crusade begins. It ends in 1250 with the capture of Louis IX.
1258: The Mongols take Baghdad from the Arabs.
1270: The Eighth Crusade begins and ends the same year.
1291: The Muslim Mamelukes take Acre and end Christian rule in the East. The Crusade period is declared to be over by the Pope.
1333: Arabic Zenith in Granada
1352: Arabs explore the Sahara
1375: The Mamelukes take Sis and end Armenian independence.
1382: The Ottoman Turks capture Sofia.
1390: The Ottoman Turks capture Asia Minor from the Byzantines.
1396: The Ottoman Turks defeat a Hungarian Army at Nicopolis.
1398: The Ottoman Turks conquer Delhi.
1401: The Ottoman Turks capture Baghdad and Damascus.
1443: The Hungarians at Nish defeat The Ottoman Turks
1444: The Ottoman Turks defeat the Polish and Hungarians at Varna.
1447: The Arabs lose India, Persia, and Afghanistan.
1453: The Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople and destroy the Byzantine Empire.
1456: The Ottoman Turks capture Athens.
1463: The Ottoman Turks capture Bosnia.
1467: The Ottoman Turks capture Herzegovina
1492: The Country of Spain becomes a reality with the end of Arab rule. The Ottoman Turks invade Hungary
1493: The Ottoman Turks invade Dalmatia and Croatia.
1501: Persia officially adopts Islam.
1507: The Portuguese establish bases in the Persian Gulf.
1517: The Ottoman’s take Egypt
1526: The Arabs finally take India.
1528: The Ottoman Turks take Buda in Hungary. The next year they will fail to take Vienna.
1550: Islam spreads to Java, Molucca, and Borneo
1568: All remaining Muslims in Spain are forcibly converted to Catholicism.
1571: The Spread of the Ottoman Empire ends at the Mediterranean.
1711: Russia and Turkey go to war.
1718: Turkey and Austria go to war. Turkey loses and will lose Hungary.
1722: Afghanistan becomes independent from Persia.
1804: Sudan becomes an Islamic State.
1811: British occupy Indonesia. They will give it to the Dutch in 1816.
1824: Greece becomes independent.
1827: Malaya becomes a British protectorate.
1828: Russia declares war on Turkey.
1830: French forces occupy Algeria ending Turk rule.
1839: Turkey loses Egypt.
1840: Egypt is forced to give up Syria.
1857: Great Britain takes India and ends Muslim rule there.
1859: The Islamic State of Daghestan becomes a Russian State.
1876: Britain builds the Suez Canal and takes over Egypt.
1878: Turkey sells Cyprus to Britain and Russia takes Adrianople.
1879: With the treaty of Berlin, Turkey loses 4/5 of its land in Europe.
1881: France invades Tunisia.
1901: France occupies Morocco.
1905: Islam reaches France once again as it is recognized as a religion.
1916: Arabs rebel against Ottoman Rule. They are led by Lawrence of Arabia.
1918: With the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire ceases to exist. Syria and Damascus become French protectorates. Palestine is born.
1921: The country of Transjorden is declared along with that of Iraq.
1924: Arabia is established as it gains control of Mecca and Medina.
1928: Turkey is declared a secular state.
1932: Iraq gains its independence.
1935: Persia changes its name to Iran.
1936: With increased Jewish immigration the first war occurs between Jewish and Arab people in the Holy Land.
1941: Britain and Russia invade Iran.
1943: Palestine starts a terror war in the Holy Land.
1946: Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria are granted independence.
1947: Pakistan is made a Muslim country as it separates from India.
1948: Israel becomes a country. The Arabs reject their own state and go to war with Israel. The Arabs lose their first war.
1951: Libya becomes independent.
1956: Morocco and Tunisia become independent. The Israelis take the Sinai.
1962: Algeria becomes independent.
1965: Malcolm X is assassinated in America ending for a time the Black Muslim movement in America. It would start up again in the 1970’s
1967: The six-day war
1973: The Yom Kipper War.
1979: The Shah is overthrown in Iran and the country becomes a fanatical Muslim state.
1980: Israel destroys Iraq’s nuclear plant and Iraq invades Iran
1989: Iraq-Iran war comes to an end,
1991: Persian Gulf War I
2001: The World Trade Center is destroyed. Later that year Afghanistan is pacified by America
2003: Saddam is removed from power.
There’s no stopping human ignorance.
27 July 2005, 16:16
Nope, that’s for sure.