It appears that al Qaeda has decided to spend the summer peppering Europe in much the same way it's allies have been peppering Iraq and Israel: that is, blowing things up and killing civilians.
So far, so typical, although it gives something in the way of truth to those who would argue that the Iraq and Afghan wars haven't made us all that safer. But I wonder why they've decided to try this now. Surely, London, and many other important European cities have been pretty well infiltrated by those professing terrorist and Islamist ideologies. What made them wait?
Those that claimed credit for the bombing were quick to apply "linkage," as the saying goes, to Iraq and Afghanistan, claiming that "all the Crusader governments" will face similar bombings if they do not leave Iraq and Afghanistan.
Further grist for the anti-war mill, it would seem, along the lines of the "blowback" argument. Yet still I wonder, why now? The Counter-Terrorism Blog suggests that this "Secret al-Qaeda" is so only in name, an inspired group of emigrant malcontents rather than an actual cell bearing orders from bin Laden. If so, this may well have been triggered by yesterday's announcement of the location of the 2012 Olympics as by anything in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, we ought well be prepared for anything. The tempo of attacks might increase, or not, as the summer goes. But of one thing we should be sure. The fanatics have brought this war, and intend to fight it on their terms. To respond to them, many options may feasibly be employed, excepting one. We must give them nothing. They are not reasonable men, and their terms for peace will never be ones under which we can live.
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