Lorie Byrd has a post “in honor of those who lost their lives that day, and to those who live on and through their actions have vowed ‘Never Again’”.
I will always remember the Twin Towers like this:
I took this photo a couple of months before the attacks.
Eyewitness report of the police shooting a suspected terrorist:
“It was no more than five yards away from where I was sitting as I saw it with my own eyes.”
He added: “As the man got on the train I looked at his face. He looked from left to right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He looked absolutely petrified.
“He sort of tripped but they were hotly pursuing him and couldn’t have been more than two or three feet behind him at this time. He half-tripped, was half-pushed to the floor.
“The policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand, he held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him.”
Here’s another article with more eyewitness accounts of the incident.
More of the eyewitness account and details on the shooting from the BBC.
The BBC also has a story with eyewitness accounts from one of yesterday’s incidents. Police are also continuing the manhunt for the four would-be suicide bombers.
Captain Ed has more details and links.
The same group which claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings has taken credit for the second attacks in London (via The Command Post).
Local coverage from a British Blogger (via Roger L. Simon)
Michele Catalano has more details on a house search in London.
And here is a story from the Times Online with plenty of details about today’s events.
Bloggers following the story of the latest bombings in London:
More: Jeff Quinton (links to other news sources), Captain’s Quarters, Tim Worstall (via Glenn Reynolds), The Counterterrorism Blog (via Michelle Malkin).
Lorie Byrd describes John Howard’s reply to a reporter’s question about the speculation that this attack and the one two weeks ago were related to the Iraq War.
Until then I will just say that he told the reporter that the war on terror would be lost if we ever started deciding the foreign policies of our countries according to what terrorists dictated. He pointed out many of the terrorist attacks that had taken place prior to the action in Iraq. He specifically cited Australia’s action in East Timor which was given by bin Laden as the reason behind an earlier attack on Australians and asked it that meant they should not have intervened in East Timor. He said that the evidence showed that the action in Iraq was not the start of terrorist attacks and that questions like the reporter’s were not based on evidence, but on supposition. Howard reminded me of a wise old man patiently lecturing a child who had just asked an incredibly stupid question.
Here’s a direct link to the C-SPAN video of the press conference (requires RealPlayer). And here’s CNN video of the press conference (requires Windows Media Player).
The Anchoress links to this transcript of Howard’s remarks. Also read: Everything that came before Iraq War.
Reid Stott has some thoughts on today’s events in London.
Background information from Hyscience (via Michelle Malkin) on the explosive used in the London bombs.
Charles Johnson links to a Times Online article, which quotes a terrorism expert speculating that the same terrorist cell is responsible for both London attacks. The article also details some speculation about the reason this attack was less succesful. Stephen Taylor also points to an AP story noting the differences in the two events.
Reports of what appear to be more mass transit terrorism in London, although details are very sketchy. Three London Underground stations have been evacuated as a result.
Three London Underground stations were evacuated at midday Thursday following reports of incidents, British Transport Police said. The Fire Brigade was investigating a report of smoke at one station.
Emergency services also were responding to a report of an incident on a bus in east London, police said.
A London Underground spokesman said there were no reports of casualties in the unspecified incidents.
“He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack,” McCracken said.
“The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage.”
Services on the Victoria and Northern lines were suspended following reports of a number of incidents, the London Underground said.
From what I am reading, it certainly sounds like something went wrong.
More on the incidents from the Guardian.
Latest details from This Is London.
Update 16.50hrs: FOUR bombs were planted and at least two exploded on London transport early this afternoon. There are also unconfirmed reports that a bomber was cornered and arrested having fled into University College Hospital.
One person was injured in the attacks that were described by Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair as “smaller than before”, but still a “very serious incident”.
A nail bomb exploded on a Tube train at Warren Street, where eye witnesses reported seeing a young Asian man dump a rucksack and run from the scene.
A second bomb exploded on the top deck of the No.26 bus on Colombia Road in Bethnal Green, blowing out the windows.
Bombs were also planted at Oval and above ground at one of the Shepherds Bush stations, which were also evacuated and cordoned off.
Witnesses at Shepherds Bush reported a man had threatened to blow himself up before fleeing the scene.
Armed police and dogs were deployed at University College Hospital, near Warren Street.
Three armed offices were seen going into the hospital, and there have been unconfirmed reports of a man with wires protruding from his jacket being sought and arrested.
Two other men of Asian appearance were arrested in Whitehall, one near Downing Street, but police have not confirmed their involvement.
The attack on FOB Marez was most likely caused by a suicide bomber.
Tuesday’s attack was the deadliest breach of security at a U.S. military base since the Iraq war began. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said there will be a reassessment of U.S. security procedures as a result. Related: Photos from the scene)
U.S. officials initially reported that rocket or mortar fire had struck the plastic-skinned tent Tuesday at Forward Operating Base Marez. But Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing, “We have had a suicide bomber apparently strap something to his body … and go into a dining hall.”
I expect the blame game will start with the usual suspects (MSM, Dems, anti-war crowd, etc.) blaming Rumsfeld and the Pentagon brass for being unprepared for such a style of attack and demanding an investigation. And an investigation should be launched; it just shouldn’t be politicized. The purpose of any investigation into how a terrorist got into the tent with an IED shouldn’t be to place blame, but to determine what can be done to prevent a future tragedy. Look for old media, though, to put the pressure on to find out who’s to blame, not at looking for ways to prevent a future attack like this one from occurring.
In related news, Donald Rumsfeld expressed grief over the criticism that he has been receiving the past two weeks.
Looking more subdued than during most of his public appearances at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded to a barrage of criticism Wednesday by saying he cares deeply about the lives of U.S. troops who go in harm’s way.
One day after 14 U.S. soldiers and four contractors died in a suicide bombing at an Army mess hall near Mosul, Rumsfeld did something he has rarely done in four years on the job: He talked about his feelings.
“I am truly saddened by the thought that anyone could have the impression that I or others here are doing anything other than working urgently to see that the lives of the fighting men and women are protected and cared for in every way humanly possible,” Rumsfeld said. He said he shares “deeply” the loss family members feel when a soldier dies.
I heard about this on the radio while I was out earlier today doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Islamic militants struck a mess hall on a military base in northern Iraq near Mosul.
Rockets struck a mess tent at a military base in Mosul where hundreds of U.S. soldiers had just sat down to lunch Tuesday, and military officials said at least 20 people were killed and more than 60 were wounded. A radical Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility.
The dead included U.S. military personnel, U.S. contractors, foreign national contractors and Iraqi army, said Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia in Mosul.
The number of casualties is unclear, but within moments of the attack soldiers where tending to the wounded.
The force of the explosions knocked soldiers off their feet and out of their seats as a fireball enveloped the top of the tent and shrapnel sprayed into the area, Redmon said.
Amid the screaming and thick smoke in the tent, soldiers turned their tables upside down, placed the wounded on them and gently carried them into the parking lot, [Jeremy] Redmon [Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch reporter] said.
Scores of troops crammed into concrete bomb shelters, while others wandered around in a daze and collapsed, he said.
Osama bin Laden:
In conclusion, I tell you in truth, that your security is not in the hands of Kerry, nor Bush, nor al-Qaida. No.
Your security is in your own hands. And every state that doesn’t play with our security has automatically guaranteed its own security.
Yes, it’s true. America’s security is in the hands of its citizens. And yesterday those citizens resoundingly declared: We choose security through strength and perseverance, not cowardice and shame. Today, I have never been prouder of my fellow citizens. During a war with a shadowy enemy, who seeks to strike the weak and intimidate the bold, we turned out in record numbers to choose those who will govern us. Regardless of the individual choices we made, we declared to bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the world that we will not retreat at the hint of danger. This election was a victory for all Americans, and for democracy at home and abroad. We are truly the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!Francis Scott Key, The Star-Spangled Banner
Captain Ed has some related thoughts.
Al Jazeera has posted a complete transcript of the bin Laden video on its website.
Reading through the whole transcript, I am even more convinced that he has taken his talking point straight from a copy of “Fahrenheit 9/11″. Various parts of his speech refer to the U.S. national deficit and a plan of “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.”
This is in addition to our having experience in using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers, as we, alongside the mujahidin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat.
And
So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.
And
Meaning that every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs.
As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars.
And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the mujahidin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan - with Allah’s permission.
However, America is not like the Soviet Union. We don’t have a centrally planned economy. Our economy can absorb losses like the one that happened on 9/11 and rebound from such losses. Bin Laden has been listening to the doomsayer’s in this country and it shows. Al-Qaeda’s strategy is the wrong one for the wrong enemy.
(From LGF)
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