November 20, 2003
MORE BLAME GAMES:
Blair's black day: Bombs, demos and serious mid-term drift - and all the direct result of the prime minister's own decisions (Polly Toynbee, November 21, 2003, The Guardian)
The prime minister has waited for months now with a deadly certainty that the terror attacks would come. "When, not if," he warned spine-chillingly about the threat to Britain. Once he had decided to take the country to war, terrorist retaliation was certain and if ever there was a prime time to expect it, then it was now, during George Bush's state visit. The wonder is only that Britain has escaped for so long. London was fortified beyond endurance this week, but there will always be soft underbellies exposed to Islamist extremist fury. There is no defence against terror. [...]These bombs made yesterday one of the darkest days of Tony Blair's prime ministership. As if that horror were not enough, too many other disparate pigeons came fluttering home to roost at once. Whichever way he turned, things looked black. They were no mere accidents, for everything that happened came as a direct result of his own decisions, all of them taken against the better instincts of most of his party. [...]
Bombs in Istanbul are the only outcome from this presidential visit. George Bush brought no gifts to thank his ally for taking so much damage to support this politically alien president. Nothing has been gained on US illegal trade tariffs: a promise to obey the WTO might have given Blair something to show the Europeans the value of engaging with America. No sign was given of serious intent to intervene in the Israel/Palestine conflict. The president leaves unabated alarm that the US will cut and run from Iraq to suit the presidential election timetable and not the needs of Iraqis. This visit has been all downside for our prime minister.
Never mind the delusion that al Qaeda is killing Westerners because of what we do or don't do, maybe Ms Toynbee could acknowledge that it was a black day for Britain, not just for one man who happens to lead it. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 20, 2003 10:27 PM
A little "Thatcherite hubris", as Ms Toynbee puts it, might be just the thing.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 21, 2003 1:36 AMHere's a difference between the US and Britain. In the US, Toynbee would at least have to tip her hat to blaming the bombers, before waiving her "but".
Posted by: David Cohen at November 21, 2003 7:56 AM"Never mind the delusion that al Qaeda is killing Westerners because of what we do or don't do..."
What delusion? Everything al-Qaeda says and does is entirely consistent with a goal of driving all un-Islamic influences out of Muslim lands and replacing their current "hypocritical" governments with true Islamic governments. The attacks have a lot to with specific political and cultural concerns in their own countries than generalized hatred of all Westerners.
Is this Toynbee related to Arnold?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 22, 2003 12:05 AMPeter:
If Al-Qaeda is successful, they merely guarantee that, someday, National Geographic will be doing documentaries on the primative Arabs, as they do with the stone-age tribes in South America.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 22, 2003 5:04 AMPerfectly true, Michael, and normally I'd be willing to let al-Qaeda ruin Saudi Arabia as thoroughly as the Taliban was ruining Afghanistan. By unnecessarily allying ourselves with the Saudi Arabian government, we made ourselves a big fat target of opportunity for terrorists like Osama bin Laden who detest the House of Saud. This is the political context of 9/11.