The war comes to London

In our hearts, we all knew it was inevitable something like this would happen sooner or later.

John Kovalic, who may be American but travels to London regularly, says things better than I can.

To quote an old Londoner who lived through the blitz and got caught up in the Canary Wharf explosion: "I've been blown up by a better class of bastard than this!"

London is a tough old town, and will bounce back just fine. Which is not in any way, shape or form to diminish what happened today. Indeed, I wish I was there now, to be with friends and family. Or just as a defiant "in your face" to the killers who did this. I recognize all the areas from the clips American television replays (and replays, and replays), and I want to be with my city while it's hurting.

If the Luftwaffe couldn't bring the city to it's knees, these pathetic penny-ante cowards certainly won't.

40-odd deaths is less than a quarter of that of the Madrid Bombings, the equivalent of about four day's worth of road accidents. If this is the worst they can do, we've got off lightly.

Al-Muhajabah has this to say:

Whoever is responsible for this atrocity will face the wrath of God for the crime they have committed. He who takes a single innocent life is as though he had killed all mankind (Quran 5:32). My prayers are with the victims and their families. May God ease their pain and help them cope. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.

I also have complete comtempt for anyone who tries to use this to make political capital, such as the grandstanding clown George Galloway. Even if you do have serious misgivings about the conduct of George Bush's invasion of Iraq, now is not the time to crow "I told you so", especially if you're a well-known apoligist for Saddam Hussein.

Of course, this atrocity is being exploited by the racist troglodytes of the BNP and their fellow travellers to stir up communal tensions. I refuse to link to their vile website, but the content is exactly what I'd expected, with rants about 'alien creeds' and 'the blood stained green crescent of death'. All this is of course a grotesque slander on the vast majority of Muslims who do not support terrorism. But I shouldn't need to have to say that.