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MAN ABOUT LONDON |
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Londoners brace for an 'inevitable' terrorist strike
By ROBERT TAYLOR
of TheColumnists.com
“Inevitable” is the word on everyone’s lips in London. The Mayor uses it, so does the Metropolitan Police commissioner and so does the government. After 11-M (as the Spanish call the day of the Madrid bombings), London will be next. It’s inevitable--and it may be soon.
That being the case, I have a message to al-Qaeda from London:
Go ahead and do your worst. It won’t be bad enough.
It won’t be bad enough because an act of terrorism, however big, will galvanize this country. There was, is and will continue to be fierce debate over the merits of the war in Iraq. But if there is one thing that will make us forget such arguments and unite, it is an outrage on our own soil. There are still enough British people who know that the best way to encourage terrorism is to give into it. And that you only have to give in once, for you to be a target every time.
Still, we have to face facts. Britain, and London in particular, is now more under threat than at any stage since 9/11. Already al-Qaeda is celebrating huge success in undermining George Bush’s alliance. The Spanish have been picked off with devastating efficiency and timing, and an anti-war party with no greater hope than I have of achieving power in Spain has been catapulted to electoral success. From al-Qaeda’s perspective, job well done.
And when you’re looking for the obvious next target, you can forget about France and its headscarf ban. Britain is bang in the firing line. If, like Spain, the UK could be “persuaded” to withdraw its support for Bush, then the war on terror will be massively changed in favour of the terrorists. The opportunity for al-Qaeda may seem clear. Strike while the iron is hot. Strike while the resolve of the coalition is weakened. Strike, and take Blair out of the equation. Strike, and leave Bush isolated.
These are curious times. Londoners are being urged by the government to look out for the possible signs of a terrorist attack, but it’s not at all obvious what these signs might be. A bag left unattended could be a bomb; that one’s clear enough. But how can we spot the signs of a deadly virus in our drinking water? And that chap hurrying into the airport terminal over there. Well, he might be a suicide bomber, but it’s more likely that he’s late for his check-in. How could we know that half a ton of ammonium nitrate was hidden in a garage, apparently part of a plan to blow up something in London? Fortunately the anti-terrorist squad uncovered this one last week.
People in London have a
curious reaction to all this. “I’ve had a good life,”
said one typically phlegmatic Londoner to me last week. “If
I get my head blown off, I don’t really care.” And
he’s only 65
Most people don’t even discuss the danger, though I’ve
yet to work out whether this is because they don’t read
newspapers, or whether they think that discussing it won’t
alter it, so why bother? Others admit to being afraid. They are
conscious of their vulnerability on packed commuter trains, in
shopping centres and at airports, though most are determined
not to let fear affect their lives. Others, still, say that London
has been on red alert since 9/11, and that there is, in any case,
little that they personally can do about it.
They’re right. An outrage is impossible to prevent. I’m reminded of what the IRA said so chillingly back in the 80s: “We only have to be lucky once; you have to be lucky every time.”
And there is worse. Al-Qaeda is, it seems, aware that an attack even on the scale of the Madrid bombings will do nothing to change Britain’s policies in Iraq or on global terrorism. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending how you look at it) only something truly enormous--much bigger, even, than September 11th--will do anything to alter Britain’s position. There are several good reasons for this to be the case.
Firstly, most British people (in contrast with the Spanish) supported the war in Iraq, and are unlikely to lash out at their government in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack. Despite some mid-term wobbles, Tony Blair’s government is not immediately vulnerable, and an election is still a year or two away.
Secondly, the main Conservative opposition party supported the war, and supports the continuing efforts to confront terrorism. If you get rid of Blair, you just get someone with equal resolve and identical foreign policies.
Thirdly, Britain expects a terrorist attack. It may be terrible when it comes--we hardly dare imagine just how bad--but we are, at least, aware of the threat. Indeed if Britain is ever likely to change its policies towards Iraq and al-Qaeda, it is now, before any attack on us occurs. But there is no groundswell of support for such a change, and nor is there likely to be.
Fourthly, there’s nothing more effective than a war at shaking Britain out of its slumberish decadence. The cream of the country’s youth declared in the Oxford Union in 1938: “This House will under no circumstances fight for King and country.” But when the bombs started dropping, the youth were the first in line.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there are cultural and historical reasons for Britain to remain steadfast against an aggressor. You have, again, to go back to the period just before The Second World War to find the last time that Britain flirted with a policy of appeasement. So misguided was that policy that its perpetrator, Neville Chamberlain, has been associated with weakness ever since--a man who was leading Britain to a fool’s paradise. The country has resisted every subsequent temptation to give in to aggressors, and the word “appeasement,” though linguistically neutral, now has only negative connotations.
This doesn’t, of course, mean that an attack won’t happen--for all I know al-Qaeda is inspired by pure hatred as much as strategic gain. All it means is that if and when an attack does occur, it won’t be enough to knock Britain off its chosen course.
©2004 by Robert Taylor. The illustration is a merging of images from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.
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