Anarchy in the U.K.

But after a while I felt that someone was entreating me for this lost story – some lonely soul, perhaps, standing far away at the window of his dusky room, or perhaps the very darkness itself that surrounded me and him and all things. So it happened that I told my story to the dark. – Rainer Maria Rilke, from Stories of God

On July 7th, beginning at approximately 08:50 AM GMT, bombs began exploding in London. Officially, as reported by the BBC, there were 4 explosions that ripped across central London causing the death of 52 persons and injuring more than 700 others. Last Thursday morning, I was among millions of other Americans who were having their morning coffee watching the news of the London bombings unfold on their televisions or computer screens; more death, more murder, more numbness and inertia. CNN hyperventilated TERRORISTS BOMB LONDON SUBWAYS, inserted al Qaeda into every sentence, and ratcheted up the domestic fear mongering rhetoric to Level RED. I don’t know what kind of a narcissist one would have to be to let the ineluctable inevitability of one day ceasing to be ruin his or her day. As Schopenhauer said, "We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness."

However, that is rather a circumscribed description and does nothing to alleviate our diurnal manifestations of moral outrage, sorrow, joy, anger, and disgust, among other directed and misdirected emotions. I chose to sit out this range of possible mood swings and wait a few days to comment. It occurred to me that a few facts may shake out over the ensuing days of forensics and analysis of first-hand accounts. The senseless death of individuals who were merely going about their quotidian lives, the kind of death that is (and has been for years) inflicted upon thousands of Iraqis daily, the kind that arrived like a thunderbolt from the heavens at a wedding party in Afghanistan, with women, children, and men celebrating one of life’s hopeful ceremonies, snuffed out courtesy of the American military in erratum, still squeezes out of the withered core some amount of anger and shame, and leaves behind an indescribable sorrow that lives in darkness. Now begins the intellectual response.

The massive scale of death in Iraq being perpetrated by the insurgency and all manner of indigenous fringe groups, including the new and improved Iraqi police and army, not to mention our own military, counterinsurgency, paramilitary, and agents of mayhem, all seem to have a cause and effect kind of logic to the insanity. When a suicide bomber blows him/herself up in Israel, we know that this is a war of attrition being waged by Palestinians against a nation possessing massive military power, which will retaliate exponentially for any attack. We know that this conflict is perpetual or will end badly. And, as much as we try to understand how someone would choose to blow him/herself up for a belief that can not be proved, it is not impossible to make logical connections. There is a cause and effect. The bombings in London, however, require something of a suspension of disbelief. As we try to draw the lines of possible cause and effect, nothing seems to make sense. We must ask, as in any crime, what is the motive. Who, in whatever twisted logic, stands to gain? On the Sunday after the attacks I came across one possible answer in this Observer story:

Millions of personal email and mobile phone records could be stored and shared with police and intelligence officials across Europe to help thwart terrorist attacks. The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, will propose new measures at an emergency meeting of European Union interior ministers which will discuss the implications of Thursday's London bombings. He raised the stakes dramatically by claiming they could 'quite possibly' have helped prevent such attacks, by identifying in advance suspicious patterns of behaviour by potential terrorists.

If one has been paying attention over the last 6 months or more, the British government, in the guise of Charles Clarke MP, Minister of State at the Home Office, who has overall responsibility for the work of the Home Office, civil emergencies, security, terrorism, expenditure and Civil Renewal, has been waging a very unpopular campaign of anti-terrorism legislation, national identity cards, and general abridgement of civil liberties. As a post-9.11 American, this has to ring familiar. I heard one Brit refer to the whole legislative campaign as Patriot Act Lite. However, from this writer’s perspective, the measures the British are trying to implement are beyond even the contentious Patriot Act II. So call it a coincidence, but one answer to the question of who stands to gain from these bombings is the politicians intent on subjugation of the general population. It’s nine-one-one déjà vu all over again.

Do I discount any possibility that radical Islamic elements are behind the bombings? Almost, but no. It is indeed, however, difficult to find the cause and effect logic of such an action. For those who would say there is no logic in any act of radical Islamic terrorism, I would contend that those individuals suffer from a deficit of knowledge relative to the foreign policy of the United States, specifically, as well as the British and French peripherally. I condone no violence against individuals by anyone for any reason, particularly innocent citizens merely going about their business, who, unfortunately are so often the targets of these assassins. However, attempting to understand the motivations of those who would commit crimes that are so heinous, to understand what level of grievance they feel they have suffered to equate this level of reprisal, and to try to be circumspect and empirical when measuring historical evidence seems the responsibility of all of us, as individuals, in this brave new world. Indeed, the efforts may be only “disturbing episode[s] in the blissful repose of nothingness”, but our struggle to understand our own existence may be the only reason not to opt for the least painful exit strategy available. Although, I have to admit there exists a delicate balance between asking the difficult philosophical questions and madness. Parents may find their reason to be in the eyes of their children. That does not preclude being a responsible citizen, however; demanding truth and responsibility from elected civil servants, from the Executive Branch of the Federal government on down to the crossing guard in your neighborhood. After all, one day you may find yourself in the back of a courthouse listening to one of your sons extrapolating perfunctorily like Dennis Rader, the congregational leader of the Christ Lutheran Church and serial murderer, on how his demons set in motion the dynamic that fueled his proud life. After that, I doubt that anything could ever be as difficult as finding beauty in a sunrise.

Today we have the British press reporting that the bombers (note: not terrorists) are (were purportedly) all English by birth and regular British citizens. One of the alleged bombers, Shahzad Tanweer, a 22-year-old British Asian of Pakistani ancestry, who,

ten days ago was playing cricket in the local park with his friends. It was something he loved to do. He was a sporty young man who loved martial arts, drove his dad's Mercedes and had many friends in the Beeston area of Leeds.

Evidently his accomplices were also all regular guys. Pardon me if my incredulity is as thick as a slab of fresh Parmesan. Throw in some cynicism and critical thinking and I just can’t get past the stupidity of all of the allegations, or, if true, the stupidity of the plot. A quick glance at the facts: •four young comrades in Islamic radicalism decide to commit a coordinated bombing for political purposes;

•they all carry their identity papers on them, wear identical rucksacks filled with their explosive and timing devices;

•they all get surreptitiously photographed (by the ubiquitous, Big-Brother style government cameras) upon entering the train station;

•they all blow themselves up, allegedly again since no DNA has proven otherwise, but manage to have their identification papers left in tact. (This is an interesting point from a national I.D. perspective. Make certain to carry yours to your intended bomb site.);

•not even the authorities know whether to call this a suicide bomb strike, in absence of corpus delicti, or simply a new breed of home grown terrorism.

•military grade weaponry, i.e. explosives were used;

•French sources are saying that these individuals had already been arrested months ago ( a charge vehemently denied by Charles Clarke).

Allow me to hypothesize on the advantage of creating the illusion of the latter. Today, here in the big, anticipatory terrorist target, the U.S., the Director of Homeland Security (can you imagine there even exists such a position), Michael Chertoff, who looks as though he could easily star in any psychological horror movie, laid out a reorganization plan for the department that includes a new assistant secretary for cyber-security and telecommunications. During an interview with Wolf Blitzer today, he kept referring to the terrorist bombings in England, and warned that this is why we need better surveillance capabilities. If the supposition is that there are new terrorist cells that are domestic, the surveillance would then have to be on citizens. Wolf mentioned that studies pointed to infiltration as the best way to battle these multifaceted terrorist cells. Chertoff basically said, yeah that too, but surveillance and technical abilities is where we need to focus. Almost simultaneously, in Britain Prime Minister Blair and Home Secretary Clarke are warning of more suicide bombings (really?) by, in Blair’s description, an "enemy whose roots lie in a poisonous and perverted interpretation of Islam". Mr. Clarke is intent on aggressively pursuing improved surveillance techniques and parameters in Britain as well. Just what the totalitarian doctor ordered.

The latest news is that British authorities are pursuing the “mastermind” behind the bombings, who is suspected, in fact, of being the bomb maker. As the New York Times reports here,

This fifth man is suspected of being the ringleader and possibly the bomb-maker, the official said, in the attacks last Thursday in the London Underground and on a double-decker city bus that killed at least 52 people. Investigators described him as a highly trained person.

I don’t know where this is going, but I feel like I should be reading it in a yellow covered paperback.

Meanwhile in Iraq, a suicide car bomber on Wednesday steered his sport utility vehicle toward a group of children who had crowded around a patrol of American troops and detonated his payload, killing as many as 27 people, nearly all of them children, government and hospital officials said. One American soldier was also killed. There are no words for this kind of horror. The NYT report reads:

The attack, in a poor, predominantly Shiite neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, left a wrenching scene of bloodshed, anger and despair. Children's colored slippers, pieces of flesh and shrapnel were strewn around the wide crater left in the street by the bomb. Women wailed and slapped themselves on the chest and face in a ritual of grief as bodies were placed in crude coffins and carried away.

The globe is stained with the blood of innocents. It has been this way throughout history. The men who wage war are political and diabolical, entreating those who will kill and die for their lies of convenience. There is no war on terror. Terror, unmitigated violence, and torture, inflicted upon other humans have been the staple of conquering hordes toward the indigenous inhabitants of conquered lands. Over time, the indigenous tribes use the same techniques of terror in an insurgency against the occupiers. Terror is as old as the darkness that resides in all of us. It is used as a heartless tool by the neo-cons to establish world hegemony. It is used by the disenfranchised to fight back against overwhelming force. It is an abomination against mankind in all cases. Who are we fighting? Is a world religion really at the heart of all our fear and loathing, and, more importantly, our capitulation to the politicians who have agendas of which we know nothing about? There are those who crave power and control, forces aligned and unholy alliances who would subjugate the world citizenry for their dystopian dream. We can’t really look to Schopenhauer or Hegel for guidance in this struggle against our own governments. Perhaps Chuck D. is more apropos: Fight the Power.

Look at the arrogance of our own political structure:

The intentional disclosure of a covert operative's identity is a violation of federal law. Under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is a crime for anyone with access to classified information to reveal intentionally the identity of an undercover intelligence officer. The punishment: a fine up to $50,000 and/or up to ten years in jail.

We can not get to the truth in a case where the blatant facts are attacked and regurgitated by the right-wing political machinery to obfuscate the obvious. Forgive me my cynicism, but I do not have faith in this electorate to see through the propaganda. And, if we lose this one battle, and the Chernoff and Clarke puppets to their masters get their way, even telling your story in the dark will be a crime.

Comments

[VeloxMortis]

I remembered what the esteemed statesman Michael Moore once wrote:

"There is no terrorist threat.
You need to calm down, relax, listen very carefully, and repeat after me:
There is no terrorist threat.
There is no terrorist threat!
There... is... no... terrorist... threat!"

Boy, did I feel like an utter berk! And I am confident that if the people of London just buy Mr. Moore's book, they will as well.

So a bus exploded. So a couple of Subway cars blew up. Whoop-dee-doo! I once saw Siegfried & Roy slice a woman into six pieces and then put her back together again. It's all smoke & mirrors, folks! SMOKE AND MIRRORS! The whole "terrorist threat" is nothing but an elaborate illusion devised to incite fear and justify Bush's illegal and immoral War on Terror.

Siegfried & Roy ought to be ashamed of themselves.

[ommzms]

Strangelove:
Chinese invasion? I believe they already have, but their weapons are economic. As for my dying quote, it would more likely be "fuck you", the old stand-by. My self-image is really only my concern, but be assured that if were as elevated as you deduce, I wouldn't be writing this shit. But you...I'd suggest an anger management course, and soon.

VeloxMortis:
Thanks for pointing out the typo that really deserves a wider ridicule than one comment (since corrected). If only those suicide bombers could teach you to do that.

[VeloxMortis]

"When a suicide bomber blows him/herself in Israel,.."

I bet they don't run that tape on Al-Jazeera. And don't tell muslims that they blow each other: they'll blame us for that, too.

[agitator]

Hey Mommy cool-

You fucking ignoramus, no one's intentionally killing children, ok? If nothing else, it's inefficient war-fighting.

[Strangelove]

You seem to be in love with yourself. Do you make recordings of yourself talking? "ineluctable inevitability"? "diurnal manifestations"...but here's the dead give-away:"It is used by the disenfranchised to fight back against overwhelming force."

Like so many Europeans, you prefer to ruminate over the methodologies and underlying thematic musings of Islamic terrorists.

Like so many Americans, I want to insert my Ka-Bar into their carotid arteries before they do the same to me.

It's not your misguided liberal sentiment that bothers me. That's part of what make sthe American social landscape interesting. It's the sheer magnitude of the arrogance you possess, coupled with an unbridled sense of ingratitude for what this country has done for you and the world.

One day, sir, the Chinese will invade our country. It's coming. And when they do, they will hesitate not even a second to empty a magazine into your chest, with your dying words being: "but I was tolerant"

[MommyCool]

So sad that the targets are nameless and faceless people just going about the business of their day. In Iraq, killing children makes no rational sense and forwards no one's cause.