Wickham's musings from Chalke

 
Four terrorists committed suicide in London on 7th July by exploding their bombs. Three came from Leeds and one from Aylesbury. Fifty five people have died so far including the bombers.

They were seen on CCTV cameras at Kings Cross station at about 8.30 am and seem to have decided to go north, east, south and west on the underground. Three exploded their bombs in underground tunnels within one minute of each other at 8.50 am but the Northern Line was disrupted at many stations to the south for unexplained reasons and it may be that the bomber who chose this line to go north found the trains delayed. He exploded his bomb on a bus in Tavistock Square at about 9.47 am.

Three bombers are Muslims from good families and appear to have led decent lives. The fourth bomber from Aylesbury was of West Indian background.

The message boards, especially the Motley Fool board “Land of Serious Topics” which is a kind of soapbox for any views, have been very busy. I have been surprised by the right-wing attitude of most contributors. I said that although I was shocked by the bombings, perhaps I should be more shocked by the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan by American and British forces. I said I had supported the removal of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein but I hadn’t realised how brutal the Americans would be. Replies suggest that the British public are only shocked when deaths are near to home. The destruction of property and “collateral damage” far away has little impact. I was accused of justifying the attacks.

Anyone who said anything that mildly expressed understanding why the attacks occurred was accused of justifying the revenge attacks and therefore being guilty of appeasement. I thought I was just being humane and Christian and that we should find another less aggressive way of dealing with insurgents. I certainly don’t support or seek to justify the attacks but my comments led people to think so.

The response in many posts was that our governments should hit back hard. They said that terrorism was never justified but casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq were justified because the intent of the wars and later actions against insurgents was to make the countries better places. I don’t think this is entirely true if there is scant regard for human life like bombing houses where there may be a terrorist but also a great likelihood of innocent civilians too, especially if the war was of doubtful legality in the first place.

This led me to ask whether the Christian teachings of not provoking one’s enemies, turning the other cheek and above all forgiving would lead the Christian religion to fade away due to its wimpish attitude. George W Bush and Tony Blair and the majority of posters on message boards are in no mood to forgive. They are intent on inflaming the situation rather than letting it cool down. I well remember the sermon after the Falklands War by the Archbishop of Canterbury which infuriated Maggie Thatcher because he failed to support the war. A typical response to my post was “You can't reason with a rabid dog or turn the other cheek - he will bite you. The only answer is extermination”. Several thought the Christian religion was doomed for various reasons.

It is now being asked whether the young men suspected of being suicide bombers actually knew that they were carrying bombs. They all came from respectable backgrounds and didn’t appear nervous when seen on CCTV. However, several had been to religious schools in Pakistan so may have been brainwashed there. Could they have been hypnotized so that a trigger word would have caused them to act without fear?

The search is now on for the people who had the knowledge to make bombs and to supply money, organization, encouragement and so on. They probably left the country before the bombs exploded.