your village voice

London Bombed by British Terrorists

Steve Gilliard, over at the News Blog, laments the recent revelation that the London Bombing was committed by British civilians, rather than by foreigners:

As I said, someone let these lunatics fill their heads with this nonsense and now people are dead, lots of people. The idea that these guys were born and raised in the UK, has scared the sh*t out of everyone. I thought they were recent immigrants. So I think a lot of us were wrong, and it's time to look very hard as to why these guys would do this and why they think it made sense.

Though I agree with the last point, the revelation of their citizenship can't be that surprising. After all who bombed Oklahoma City, 1996 Olympics and shot up Columbine?

All Americans.

It doesn't take foreign nationals to commit horrendous acts of barbarism. That is the myth. Anyone is capable of atrocious acts, any group is capable of doing horrible things against other fellow human beings. It is in a close-knit society this would be a shock, but in a heterogeneous population such as in Britain and the US, the very melting pot that creates the great flow of ideas can also create isolation and friction between different people. That is what living in a truly tolerant and free society is all about.

The problem is not the people. It is the ideology. Any radical group whether it is a terrorist organization, company or entire nation that believes in extremes and is willing to accomplish its goal by any means necessary could be dangerous.

But don't let the conservative blogs convince you that Europe is alone in its tolerance and hate-fanning. Ask the Pentagon about the "Salvador Option" in Iraq and you'll probably get the same speech about "the ends justify the means."

I am sure the suicide bombers in London believed that insanity, too.

posted by the prisoner @ 12:24:00 PM