There was another summer of shark attacks, and young women missing. It abruptly ended as much of America awoke one morning to television images of airplanes flying into buildings, and people jumping from them as they first burned, then fell.

Once again, during a summit in which the hot topics are not the religious extremists who wish us to convert or die (and are indifferent as to which, or would in fact prefer the latter), but global warming and African poverty (the latter a condition that has generally been worsened, not ameliorated by such international gabfests), the early morning news is filled with images of sundered buses and subway cars and broken British bodies. This time it's in London, the capital of one of our most steadfast allies in the war.

Once again, we're reminded that this is a war of a kind unfamiliar to any American for the past hundred and forty years, and to almost any American from the northern tier of the country for almost two centuries, in that we at home are at risk of our property and lives. We've fought many wars, but the bombs and the injuries and the dying have been endured by those in our military, and largely occurred in the foreign lands in which we waged them. But as on that sunny September day almost four years ago (a time now greater than the span between Pearl Harbor and victory over Germany and then Japan) we are reminded that we're all in the army now, and we're all, at least metaphorically, in the sniper's scope.

It's not clear what the goal of this latest atrocity was. The timing with the G8 Summit seems too close to be coincidental, but it's hard to imagine what these people thought the effect on that event would be, other than to strengthen the resolve of the G8 against them. Certainly the British people are no stranger to such things, and have shown their mettle, as they did in the eighties against the IRA, and against the original Nazis during the Blitz. In the words of Winston Churchill, I'm confident that, once again, they will not falter, or fail. And even if they were the type to be cowed, there's no upcoming election here to sway, as there was in Madrid. If they were trying to hurry the British troops out of Iraq, I suspect that it would be more likely to have the opposite effect now. If nothing else, I hope that it encourages a real crackdown on the Islamist hatemongers, so many (indeed far too many) of whom have taken up residence in Britain, and preached and proselytized their neonazism unmolested for too long amidst a misplaced multicultural overtolerance.

Is it part of a larger plot, still to play out?

I'm in Washington. I walked to work from my hotel this morning, because it was quite close. But I have a lunch scheduled with an editor in the district near the White House, and I was planning to take the Metro to get there. Should I, will I now take a cab instead?

No.

That's what they want. There are many who cannot afford cabs, or cars. For them the subway is their lifeline. At least one of the goals of these creatures is to scare them away from it, to once again damage our economy (as I watched the coverage of the London carnage, all of the st0ck index futures were down steeply this morning). To once again strike fear into our hearts. To once again prevent us from doing the things that we want, and often must do.

No, when I go downtown today, I'll ride the train under the river, with those who must, just as I would had I woken up this morning to normal--the latest shark attack and insipid interviews with friends of neighbors of one of the Aruba accused. Though I love life, it must be a life worth living, and that is not one cowering in fear from impotent madmen who rejoice in death, and would force our participation in a misogynistic and deranged medieval fantasy. I will carry on.

They will not win.

[Update at 10:15 AM EDT]

Not all Brits are maintaining a stiff upper lip. The odious Islamic stooge, George Galloway, has already issued a call to surrender:

We urge the government to remove people in this country from harms way, as the Spanish government acted to remove its people from harm, by ending the occupation of Iraq and by turning its full attention to the development of a real solution to the wider conflicts in the Middle East.

[Another update a few minutes later]

"Red" Ken Livingstone, the leftist mayor of London, has a stouter spirit:

I want to say one thing, specifically to the world today — this was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful, it was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian ... young and old … that isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted fate, it is an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder.

They seek to divide London, they seek Londoners to turn against each other ... this city of London is the greatest in the world because everybody lives side by side in harmony. Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack.

I know that you personally do not fear to give your own life in exchange to taking others ... but I know you do fear you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society ... in the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our seaports and look at our railway stations ... you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world, will arrive in London to become Londoners, to fulfill their dream and achieve their potential … whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.

[Both of the above links via The Corner, which has wall-to-wall coverage, or at least linkage, and commentary]

[One more note a few minutes later still]

I should add that I feel that I'm being neither particularly brave or foolhardy in using the Metro today. First, even if there are attacks, the chances that I would personally be involved in one are quite small. Even in London, after all, I'd guess that 99.9+ % of the train and bus passengers were unaffected (except by the stoppages, of course).

Even leaving the statistics aside, though, if they were going to have attacks here coordinated with those across the pond, I'd think that they'd have already done so at rush hour, both here and in New York. I'll be traveling during late lunch time. Security is high on the Metro (despite no increase in alert status by the DHS), and despite our own lax policies in immigration, we don't have the same critical mass of Islamic extremists that Britain has. I think that they hit London because it was a softer target, and nearby, and the chances that they've been able to coordinate similar attacks here quite small.

[One more thought in the evening]

One more key point between this and Madrid. Tony Blair laid the blame where it belonged, and didn't blame (for example) the IRA (as the Spanish government initially, reflexively blamed ETA). That, as much as Iraq, is what caused the Spanish government to fall.

I noticed the same trend, and was a little worried about the deja vu. The *only* good news so far is that the initial estimates are lower than in Madrid. This far.

I want reporters to go out and find the people who are cheering this, particularly UK citizens. I want people to be able to see the face of the enemy.

I have the greatest sympathies for the people of the UK today.

Ken Livingstone's comments are, for once, right on target.

Rand, your biggest problem on the Metro is likely to be nonfunctioning escalators. Or, if you wait too long in the evening, waiting and waiting for trains that are too short.

Welcome to DC.

I guess George Galloway is on the neocon hit list for the well deserved lecture he gave the American Congress. It's unfortate that so many American politicians, like their followers, are cowards and that it required someone from overseas to speak what so many Americans believe.

Too bad, I can remember when truth was more important than ideology and Galloway delivered.

I can tell that his testimony, cowardly struck from the congressional record, must have hurt many of you deeply.

Galloway is a typical Fascist/Communist, apologizing for mass-murders wherever they arise.

Yours,
Wince

Rob, you're joking, right?

Rand, in asking Rob whether he's joking or not, I assume you are.
Joking, that is.
There are quite a few in this country who think Galloway "spoke truth to power" in his appearance before Congress. That he is once again calling on his fellow countrymen to surrender to islamic terrorism only seals the deal for American leftists. He's a hero.

I'm waiting for the moonbats to claim that Blair's government set off the bombs. Kinda like accusing the Bush Admin. of blowing up the WTC and lying that it was Islamofascists in airliners.

Oh, yeah, has anyone whined and seethed that the JOOS did this? That can't be far behind.

Folks, does this development help or hurt our cause?

George Galloway is a self-aggrandizing cunt.

He just _is_.

In the same sense that Mount Everest _is_, or that Alma Cogan _isn't_.

Good night.

He is the love child of Rudolph Eichman and Lord Haw Haw. A traitor to Western Civilization.

As to the comment that the violence of barbarian Islamists is something new to American experience, I wonder if that's true. I'm no expert, but the current war seems very like the campaign of bombings and assasinations conducted by anarchists during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. The main difference is the scale of destruction the current barbarians can aspire to by using modern technology.

Multicultural overtolerance? There's no such thing. It's heinous that you have to convey such a hateful message on the back of such a tragedy. These problems with the Mid-East would be greatly helped if the G8 countries would mind their own damn business and stop trying to impose their will on the rest of the world.

He who pays the piper calls the tune. If someone doesn't want to hear from the G8, the G8 shouldn't have to hear from them.

Multicultural overtolerance? There's no such thing.

So we should tolerate people who want to force us all to worship the same God, keep women virtually enslaved, stone them if they're raped, and kill us if we don't agree? Sorry, there are just some things that are intolerable. And there's nothing "hateful" about saying that.

Apparently the only thing that you find intolerable is intolerance of anything. Good luck with that.