London Calling

Only a few years ago as the Hutton Inquiry raged on in

London in the humid

summer months of 2003, the case of the suicide of

their chief weapons inspector David Kelley was put

under intense public scrutiny. The "sexed up" dossier

had 10 Downing Street’s hands all over it. Tony

Blair’s chief spin doctor Alastair Campbell eventually

walked the plank when he became part of the story.

The BBC was also found to have exercised shoddy

journalism in the affair.

Tony Blair, by many accounts, had become the chief

stooge of the United States in deciding to go to Iraq

on a questionable intelligence report.

So this whole charade in Iraq has stunk from the

beginning.

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, argued early on

against the invasion of Iraq by saying, "An assault on

Iraq will inflame world opinion and jeopardise

security and peace everywhere. London, as one of the

major world cities, has a great deal to lose from war

and a lot to gain from peace, international

cooperation and global stability."

There are now 52 dead and over a thousand injured as a

result of the Tube and bus bombings carried out with

ruthless precision.

Tony Blair now says, "We will pursue those responsible

wherever they are and we will not rest until they are

identified, and as far as possible, brought to

justice."

Curses, like chickens, come home to roost. So it is that the day to

day life of the Londoner is about to get more onerous

as security precautions begin to take hold.

Bush now says,"The best way to defend

America is to stay on the offence." He should be doing play-by-play on Monday Night Football.

Speaking to a thousand FBI officials, he said, "In

this difficult hour, the people of Great Britain can

know the American people stand with you. And just as

America and Great Britain stood together to defeat the

totalitarian ideologies of the 20th Century, we now

stand together against the murderous ideologies of the

21st Century."

Were it only that simple.

As Londoners hit the streets to walk home on foot that

day, it made a compelling picture to anyone who

has ever taken the Tube. For the cosmopolitan City on

the Thames, it was a day of reckoning. After all,

it was not too far north of here that bombing flights

originated to Iraq.

This was the largest attack on London since the Second

World War. The London of today bears little

resemblance to the post-war city - it is now one of

the most ethnically diverse capitals of the world.

But the bombings of July 7th should not have come as a

shock to anyone - and to disconnect it from Britain’s

foreign policy in recent years would be disingenuous.

Just as with the Occupation in Iraq, innocent

civilians have largely suffered the effects of this

"War on Terror" and from the attacks by Al Qaeda.

As smoke billowed from the Underground trains last

week, the stench of fear arrived. The objective of

the bombings had been achieved. The few psychopaths

who conceived and carried out this catastrophic

tragedy, successfully unleashed a wave of racism

against innocent Mulims in Britain and initiated

a de facto crackdown in the United States.

From Bali to Madrid to dozens of other places, the

bombings continue. The occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Occupied Palestinian Territories continue. Iran is still heating up.

But the fanatics in this interplay are not just Al

Qaeda who have no respect for human life, but also

exist in the hallways of power in the United States

and Britain.

People like John Bolton, Douglas Feith and Paul

Wolfowitz and the neo-cons behind the Project for a

New American Century have blood on their hands too.

Over 100,000 Iraqis are dead since the war was

launched on a flimsy pretext. There are thousands of

casualties on the US and British side, also innocent

victims of a power structure that led them there in

the first place.

But somehow a life lost in Iraq doesn’t have the same

value as a life lost in London in the Western mind.

And As the G-8 Summit rolled on in the tony golf

resort of Gleneagles, enhanced by the rock star lustre

of celebrities like Bono, Bob Geldof and the gang,

they all came across as hopelessly out of touch.

Banging the drum for Africa with their white wrist

bands, they did succeed in increasing development aid

to the continent.

London’s winning Olympic Bid fell to the back

pages amidst rumblings of rising security costs.

Welcome to the New World Order.