Hang in there, Great Britian.

My heart goes out to all the families whose lives are torn apart by terror.

BBC World Service is running continuous coverage, you can pick up the audio stream.

Currently it looks like 6 explosions, including one bus.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4659093.stm

They just played a statement by Tony Blair, who says it appears to be a terrorist attack and he is going to leave the G8 shortly and return to London.

Unfortunately lots of casualities...CNBC reported over 50 dead at Euston station alone. BBC reported Al Qeada has already claimed responsibility.

They are being careful not to blame any particular terrorist group. Some news organisations are declining to label these explosions as terrorist attacks at all. It is important not to give offense.

Usually you cannot go wrong by blaming a muslim group for any particular act of senseless terror. On the other hand, there is now some speculation that the French are responsible, having lost the bid for the Olympics to London.

BBC says Al Qaeda's claim of responsibility is on a website.

there is now some speculation that the French are responsible, having lost the bid for the Olympics to London.

or Moroccoans with ties with the French Secret Services. It won't be the first attack of this kind...

Simon, where did you get the Euston info from? There are reports of even a single casualty (or an explosion, even) at Euston.

should read NO explosion at Euston (as far as I'm aware)

HJ - from CNBC.

On Bloomberg an Israeli minister just denied getting advanced warning.

The sydney morning herald is reporting on the Al-Qaeda website

CNN is saying double digit fatalities at Kings Cross station, according to reports.

BBC just reported that bus in Tavistock Square was a suicide bomber - the first in UK

Stay strong, Britons.

My prayers are with the victims.

Wall Street Journal is reporting multiple bus attacks.

US DHS is (no surprise, eh?) saying that it was almost certainly an al-Qaeda attack.

Apologies on the Euston station report - it appears CNBC got their stations mixed up.

Glad you are ok Colt!

Our prayers are with you England!

Nick Robertson reports on CNN that British intelligence sources say 50 people they had been tracking closely have disappeared, perhaps fled the country. This in context of a discussion about Al Qaeda involvement in the bombings.

Robertson also reports that one of the Underground explosions went off just as 2 trains were passing one another. Suicide bomber??

From BBC::
Public advice
The Metropolitan Police advise people to stay where they are.

Do not call the emergency services except in life-threatening situations.

An emergency hotline number is expected shortly.

All London hospitals are closed to non-emergency cases.

Emergency service calls are being given priority on mobile phone networks.

Metropolitan Police
Home office
Mayor of London
Government advice
Emergency advice
Transport information
All London Underground trains are suspended until further notice.

All Zone 1 buses are suspended.

Drivers are advised not to come into central London.

Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted Express trains are suspended.

Thames Clippers are providing free travel on all boats.

Mainline train services are disrupted.

Transport for London
Thames Clippers

To the people of Briton from America:

Whatever you need, you got it.

London's mayor, "Red" Ken Livingstone is calling it "mass murder". Sounds like more than the 2 fatalities officially announced so far.

Although he is in Singapore, he apparently has direct contact with London's emergency services.

Hopefully, it's just rhetoric and emotion getting the best of him.

Thanks for your kind messages everyone - however don't worry too much about us Brits. We've been through worse and come back fighting - I know this time will be no different. As for the "people" that planned and carried out this attack - just know that you need to sleep with one eye open from now on...

UKblogs aggregator
via LGF

Paul White, director of Whitechapel Hospital, said that they received three double decker buses carrying around one hundred wounded, ten in critical state and seven severely wounded. One died in the hospital.

I think Whitechapel is eastwards from the City, that is, they may have attended the victims of the first explosions, in and around Liverpool St.

Colt,

Stay safe!

yeah dont feel to sorry for us brits in general, all we need is support at this time, and any information that could help would really be usuful. we have seen worse attrocaties in other countries but chose to ignore them somtimes, but when it hits home thats when we act up for the greater good.

thanks everyone

We are with you Britain. Our prayers, our sweat, and our blood.

does anybody know the site that the supposed al- quaeda in uk posted that they were responsible for these attacks is?

The Arabic is al-Qalaa, which translates to something like "the Fortress" in English. It's a message board frequented by al-Qaeda members and their groupies.

Why do we have so much trouble tracking down these websites? What good's all that NSA money doing?

whats this nsa thing then?

>>Why do we have so much trouble tracking down these websites? What good's all that NSA money doing?

On-line anonymity isn't easy, but it is possible. Probably the servers are located in nations that are less-than-friendly to the US. Wireless connections and proxies probably provide the rest of the needed protection.

It's also likely that the NSA can't be bothered to waste time on such trivial concerns.

Hi, i only just found this st by accident, what i would lke to know where do they stand? what is the sites main beliefs, with a name like winds of change it all sounds ather disturbing (im sure its not) i would just like to know where they stand on everting as im new here

re: NSA and websites:

first, Mark - what makes you think the NSA had trouble tracking down this website?

second, I could put up a new website, in a new domain, in less than 5 minutes with a credit card and existing internet access, including at an internet cafe for cash. Does that help scope the problem?

and finally, the NSA has a lot to do. tracking jihadist websites is one of them, but my no means the only one -- or the most time-critical one in many situations.

Over the years I've known a number of NSA people. You're getting your money's worth, Mark.

Well you guys might want to stop and ask where al-Qalaa is hosted to consider why it might be difficult for the NSA to shut the accursed thing down ...

i think we are getting a head of our selves how do we know its al-quadea? it could be any extreamist group, we shouldnt assume at this stage, i mean look at 9/11 its still all hush hush

Jon, you should probably read our extensive archives and form your own opinion on where our various team members and regular commenters stand. It's not a one size fits all site, but the team agrees on some issues.

We welcome thoughtful comments from readers of a variety of political stances. Emphasis on thoughtful, i.e. contributing to a rich and serious discussion of major events and issues.

to jon, and what are these issues that the teams agree on? jut curious

sorry i mean to robin

There is a good "current events" aggregation page at Wikipedia being frequently updated as of this writing.

7 July 2005 London bombings

Gee, Paul ... it seems you don't respect Islamacists enough to take them at their word.

Bin Laden has repeatedly said Al Qaeda carried out the 9/11 attacks. He's said it personally to journalists from Arab and other Muslim countries. That's not good enough for you?

Now, it's possible that these bombings weren't in fact executed by an al Qaeda-affiliated group, who are just trying to claim the 'glory' of someone else's work.

But until there's good reason to believe that, it's stretching things to insist that they did NOT carry out either the 9/11 and these London bombings - which finally succeeded after at least 6 or 7 foiled major attacks on London by Islamacist terror groups both before and after 9/11 - for which they've claimed responsibility.

Jon, it's a busy news/blog day today. Please feel free to read our archives as a way to familiarize yourself with WOC, our team, and our varied regular readers/commenters.

Scotland Yard news conference just held - confirmed 4 explosions and fatalities:

Liverpool station: 7
Russell Square: 21
Edgware: 5
Tavistock Square: unknown number of fatalities

Jon, Unfortunately, it is not practical to respond as you would like to your question, "and what are these issues that the teams agree on?" Welcome to the site, see the listing in blue entitled "Recent Entries" (upper right side of the screen) for a sense of the concerns discussed here, and the points of view of the authors.

robin, im quite curious to your charecter, all im saying is that there is alot of media attentio towards 9/11, some true some not.You say i dont respect islamics enough to believe there word? no offense but why should i respect somone who claims to have been involved in killing people? that isnt respect, would you respect him for killing your family?

Jon, now you're going to arrogantly teach Robin about respect?

Please -- enough already.

I wonder if the plans to finally fix the aid situation in Africa may have been a prime motivator in the timing and location of this attack.

Think about the gains that the Islamofacists have made in Africa, particularly Somalia and other countries. They are strongest in some of the worst countries, where the aid programs are particularly ineffective.

If the G8 got its collective heads out of their posteriors and created a functional aid program that actually solved the problems, it could well undercut AQ and other groups on that continent.

And that made this particular G8 conference a potential existential threat to AQ.

I hope that the G8 conference doesn't let this derail them from accomplishing that goal.

I would suggest that the shutting down of the mobile phone systems may be related to the prevention of triggering additional cell-phone activated explosives.

If I were directing operations within London, this would be one of my first moves at the onset of the attacks.

Unexploded ordinance will yield an invaluable mountain of information to track back to the originators/builders.

Food for thought.

I'm glad youre alright Colt.

Great job, Colt.

Echoing relief that you are well. Keep up the outstanding work in the meantime.

(Keep an eye on Denmark, Sweeden & the Netherlands in the coming days. Comfortable home-away-from-home to many transplanted Jihadis.)

USMC_Vet, I need to go find the link but IIRC British authorities have found multiple unexploded bombs in the underground ... should indeed yield some intel, don't know how much.

It will be interesting to watch responses to these attacks, around the world. My daughter was near the Twin Towers on 9/11 and is slowly coming around to the idea that there is a serious, longterm threat from Islamacists bent on violence.

Okay, I've taken time out of a busy morning to check on the IP addresses of the last few comments.

Jon, Jon Space and Paul are all the same person.

This is a single warning: trolls will be banned on these threads. There is room on WoC for a range of opinions. There is not room for those who deliberately want to degrade the discussion maliciously.

Note to our regular commenters: neither I nor the rest of the WOC team regularly do this sort of check. It's not information I usually see -- I had to go dig for it and did so only because jon replied to my comment back to Paul in the first person. In other words, jon associated himself with Paul and I wanted to see if they were the same person before responding further.

"in a new domain, in less than 5 minutes with a credit card and existing internet access, including at an internet cafe for cash. Does that help scope the problem?"

It helps, but with the most advanced and powerful computing power in the world and access to the foremost experts on these things, I would hope we could nab these guys wherever they are. And I dont mean any one particular group, this has been an ongoing means of enemy communication and propaganda. These people have access to the highest levels of AQ, I would think straining every sinew of government would be in order to track them down and squeeze them.

Maybe they are, and im sure that will be the response that comes back. But forgive me, my skepticism of our intelligence leadership leads me to believe the gathering branch (NSA- National Security Agency) may simply not be working with the CIA, FBI, and Pentagon effectively on this. It would hardly be surprising to find each agency assuming one or more of the others was on top of this. Its compounded because internet intelligence is such a new component. I know all we can do is have faith and hope there is some ULTRA type of operation underway to crack this network and communication, but something tells me there are going to be some books published by some angry and frustrated techies in the indefinate future.

Mark, I have reason to believe the issue of Islamacist sites - identifying and tracking them and their contents - is receiving a great deal of attention.

What specific ACTION do you think the NSA should have taken with regard to the site that posted this claim of responsibility for the London bombings? What would your measure of effective action be?

For instance, there is no indication that the site in question was used to coordinate the attacks. Could have been, but as of now we don't have reason to believe it was. In what way would NSA have been negligent or ineffective in this case?

#47: If this is the real thing, then it was about Europe, not Africa.

It helps, but with the most advanced and powerful computing power in the world and access to the foremost experts on these things, I would hope we could nab these guys wherever they are.

Aaron at Internet Haganah is taking these sites down

Yes, and in doing so is causing the intel folks some serious problems from what I hear. In some cases he has broken an investigation that was close to identifying and possibly locating bigger fish than the guys who ran the site.

I remember he was getting hassled by a "three letter agency" a while back.

I can't blame him for trying though...

"For instance, there is no indication that the site in question was used to coordinate the attacks. Could have been, but as of now we don't have reason to believe it was. In what way would NSA have been negligent or ineffective in this case?"

Im not talking about preemption, but post-emption if that is a word. Again, im not talking about this specific case, but certainly Zaqawi has been using the internet extensively, for example. If we were jumping the posters and working our way up the enemy would stop doing it, suggesting that we arent nabbing the little fish with the big connection, secretly or not.

The speed with which the attack was claimed suggests possible pre-knowledge and certainly a direct line to the attackers if it is a legit claim.
In this case, I'd like to feel comfortable that in the next 24-48 hours the source of this website would be under survellence or in custody. Is that a reasonable expectation?

I think you're probably 12 hours behind the NSA on that one Mark. ;-)

That said, it's incredibly hard to form a mental picture of HOW MUCH electronic traffic of various sorts the NSA has to monitor at every minute. Among the signals which (it is said) NSA monitors selectively are Internet (web, email, file transfers), phones, radio, .... Add in encryption, steganography and other techniques to hide messages, and you get a sense of the challenges involved.

Here's one of the problems with the vast and fluid arena of terrorist 'websites':

Think of it as policing the blogosphere. How many blogs do you know of? Likely thousands...yet you surely do not read them daily.

On those blogs, many speak in both posts and comments in a rather authoritative, informed, passionate manner though the blogger/commenters have no affiliation or participation in the policies they speak to. Like, for example, Winds of Change. We analyze, critique and comment on the War on Terror. While some of us hold (or held) rather interesting positions in different organizations, that is not to say that anyone does or does not have a hand in crafting policy/plans.

Now, imagine the same scope with regards to the vast array of 'websites' / 'message boards' that are also in various dialects of Arabic. Which messages/posts/comments come from authoritative figures that serve as direction and which are no more than supportive cheerleading for the Jihadi cause or prediction or simply a statement of desire as to what should be done?

There were likely in the past months billions of like-comments at such sites. Which messages from which sites were tangible direction and which were merely cheerleading or other open discussion from onlookers rather than partakers?

To further compound the situation, it takes a mastery of Arabic (not merely speaking/reading ability) to detect the subtlties that would indicate the difference (tone/context/rhythm, etc) between red meat and sushi. Add to that complex mixture the issues of anonymity and spoofing and you will understand that what you need are a great number of analysts who not only have a mastery of Arabic but are also very IT proficient.

How many do you know with a mastery of Arabic and/or IT?

...that you trust with the Nation's security?

Be thankful for and impressed at the work that the NSA/CIA/DIA et al dutifully perform. I wish they had more resources, but they have what they have and do with it more than in your wildest imagination.

It's easy to imagine that it cannot be so difficult until you are confronted with the actual nuts & bolts of creating the team to perform the task.

This was over on the Counterterrorism blog at this link:

"Increasingly it's looking as a British intelligence official told me this morning not more than an hour ago, that he used the term, ‘Our North African boys’, meaning some of the North African type of militant Muslim groups and individuals who were responsible for the Spanish attacks in 2003 that have a very striking similarity to the attacks that were carried out this morning in London...There is an interconnected network of Algerians, of Moroccans, of Saudis operating throughout Europe and it certainly coincides with the opening of the trial of Abu Hamza al-Masri who is a radical Islamic cleric in London whose is charged with incitement has been indicted in the United States on charges of trying to set up a jihad training camp in Oregon...The simultaneous nature of the bombings and the potential there was a suicide bomber suggests very strongly that was some type of Al-Qaeda offshoot of known radical Islamic groups or unknown groups, individuals at least, plotting this for a long time. This couldn't have been done overnight...the 3/11 attacks and these attacks clearly show that mass transit infrastructures in the West are very susceptible and almost impossible to protect by Western law enforcement and therefore the intelligence is clearly the first line of defense. The fact that they were not able to stop this type of attack clearly shows there was a failure of intelligence."

What has struck me about the video/photo coverage of the British bombings versus the descriptions of the eye witnesses is the lack of bodies.

The long distance shots of the bombed out bus show the street immediately beside it and the visible floor of the top of the bus the red-brown of drying blood. That is a lot of blood.

Dozens of people had to have bleed that out as the blood stains seemed to cover the side walk for a city block.

The British government is some fairly heavy exercising control of the media video images.

However, this is not unlike the self censorship of networks of the video images of the WTC jumpers.

Life had to go on, which for me meant I had to go to work. Hence the lack of liveblogging.

The grown-up children of two people at my mother's work narrowly avoided serious injury or worse. One was on the train that was bombed at Kings Cross. Another got off a bus about 20 seconds before it was blown up.

I'll update the post in a few minutes.

As Trent has noted above, it is obvious that images of this event are being sanitized for public consumption. I think that, but for showing images that would directly identify victims, disturbing images should be shown to the public. Too many people see these things happen and somehow intellectualize them into threats of a lesser nature.

If any good can come from this terrible attack, it would be to reinvigorate British resolve, not weaken it. Pernicious forces should be dealt with in a manner befitting the danger they present, not in a way that would make us feel better about ourselves. Clearly, the "sensitive, moral" approach carries no weight with these monsters.

As Trent has noted above, it is obvious that images of this event are being sanitized for public consumption. I think that, but for showing images that would directly identify victims, disturbing images should be shown to the public. Too many people see these things happen and somehow intellectualize them into threats of a lesser nature.

If any good can come from this terrible attack, it would be a reinvigoration of British resolve, not a weakening of it. Pernicious forces should be dealt with in a manner befitting the danger they present, not in a way that makes us feel better about ourselves. Clearly, the "sensitive, moral" approach carries no weight with these monsters.

Trent, the death toll on that bus is said to be two. You cannot tear a bus in half like that without killing more than two people.

That's the identified or confirmed death toll. I expect it will continue to rise as bodies are identified.

I'll be very surprised if the final death toll doesn't break 150 easily.

Colt,

This is the latest on the bus blast from the Guardian. Hat Tip -- Little Green Footballs:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1523540,00.html?gusrc=rss

Dr Buckman told SocietyGuardian.co.uk that he was on his way to a meeting at the BMA and arrived 10 minutes after the bus exploded outside the building.

He said: "I arrived at the BMA just as the first ambulance arrived. My first impression was about the amount of blood. The whole of the front of the building was covered with blood - quite high up, I suspect that was because the upstairs of the bus had been blown off."

There was also a lot of smashed glass and metal everywhere, he said.

Dr Buckman said ambulance staff told him there were around 10 people dead in the blast. Two people died in the BMA courtyard as doctors tried to treat them.

Judging from the fact the article also mentioned that the driver of the bus was unhurt. I would say that we have a better than 70% chance of a suicide belt bomber. The M.O. of the small bomb size and its placement at the top rear bus is far to much like Iraeli suicide-murder belt bombers to be simply a man getting on and off a bus and leaving a packaged bomb.

The British public camera network would have seen every person who got on and off this bus and we would have heard of a bus bomber man hunt by now if the British Security forces had a suspect they are looking for.

Joe, Trent:

I spoke to my mother again. Her boss's daughter's bus was full of people.

Scratch that. I guess I misheard.

Handfuls of salt alert...

London bomber recently released from Gitmo.

Source is HomelandSecurity.us...

The attack in London is the final reason that has brought me to the conclusion that the flypaper strategy in Iraq must end. As a tactic applied in the GWOT it is achieving its goals, i.e., bringing the terrorists(Jihadists and dead enders) to a killing ground. As a strategy in the campaign called Iraq it is costing us political support among the Sunni population because we are leaving the civilian population without protection of any kind. London unlike Baghdad is capable of rising to the task of providing security to its people(Watch what this does to the decommissioning process in Norhtern Ireland).

For the most part Jihadists and dead enders have little ability to damage infrastructure(electric transmission which underlies critical resources-fresh water and human comfort-air conditioning)in most of the Kurdish and Shite areas of Iraq because they can not infiltrate the population. It is primarily in the areas of dispute-Kirkuk or solidly Sunni areas that the terrorists have found an ability to swim. In order to deny the terrorists water we must drain the pond. The way to do that is to provide the total clamp down in Baghdad necessary to keep vital services going and begin moving out from there while simultaneously sealing the border with Syria.

The Sunni population while favored under Baathist regimes and the others still had little or no street crime or fear of going about their daily business. The terrorists have undoubtedly succeeded in moving many Sunni's into a position of passivity against them because they see us as being unable to do what Sadaam did, i.e. provide basic security(For those whom would argue what about the predatory nature of the Baathist party that evil falls under the issue of the devil you know). This is possible because the attacks are directed against the security forces(most of whom are not sunnis, the coalition forces which in Baghdad means US or the infrastructure.

One can evade the Americans by using common sense i.e., avoid areas where the Americans are. As the Security forces are mostly Shia and Kurdish and likely to be feared because of the long history of vendatta in Iraq, the vast majority of Sunni's do not care if they die especially as Sunni's believe they have no vested interest in Iraq.
That leaves the infrastructure. By bringing it up to past capacity and building more(remember the population of Iraq in totality is bigger than it was in 1990 when the sanctions began) every attack against it becomes an attack against the Sunni's. It will provide more jobs for those young men and woman whom are likely to be indifferent because they see no future for themselves.

By bringing in additional troop and redeploying as many as possible to provide security to the infrastructure and within Baghdad proper we will provide a level of security comfort to those among the population whom will help us. It help end some of the factional fighting that is occuring in Sunni area(It is manifesting itself as bodies brought into the central morgue handcuffed and w/ 9mm headaches after reportedly being taken away by the security forces). This will show us as powerful and capable of fulfilling our committments to the civilian poplulation.

Gradually these actions will pull the Sunni's away from indifference and towards the central government as more and more security and creature comforts are provided. It will manifest itself first in the givng up of intel on the foreign Jihadists and then the others as time passes.

Sealing the border of Syria and cutting the ratlines should be obvious. It will acheive two goals simultaneously. One, if the terrorists are bottled up in Syria they two, become a threat to the Assad/Alawite regime. As the terrorists are likely being granted transit and they have no place to go they will infiltrate local jihadist organizations. That threat will likely be responded to in a Hama like fashion as no country supplying these people are going to take themback. There is little more that could further our aims of stablizing Iraq.

One of the problems with providing resources to this operation is lack of reliable Iraqi personnel at all levels meaning we must do it ourselves. My suggestion has been pull whatever infantry, armor, MP et al out of Europe and let the chips fall there as they may(this is where I stood prior to London). The attack in London provides the final reason as it should now be a catalyst for the Europeans as a whole to spend their money to provide security for themselves freeing our resources to deal with Iraq for it is their security that has been attacked. It is their countries that have large Muslim immigrant communities that provide a sea for the terrorists to operate in.

Robert M, I like the way you think.

Colt, to indulge in speculation based on unsubstantiated reports for a moment, if this guy was our guest in Cuba it is political plutonium. For both sides. One side will insist this guy was obviously a deadly threat and shouldnt have been released to placate public opinion, the other side will claim his treatment at Guantanamo drove him to it. Further polarization of the political spectrum will be the result.
Realistically i find it unlikely an identity could have been discovered by the Pentagon at this stage.

Mark, agreed on how such an argument would pan out.

Realistically i find it unlikely an identity could have been discovered by the Pentagon at this stage.

The only thing I can figure is that the guy evaded British surveillance. It is a little hard to imagine that he could be involved in a plot such as this without raising the attention of the authorities. It'd also be a foolish move on the part of the jihadis to use someone known to British intelligence, and surely under observation, to carry out the role of an expendable.

You people are assuming way too much about the Gitmo connection story. The source is suspicious and did not identify the nationality of the Gitmo detainee involved.

If you believe everything you read, believe the following:

You will send me all your money.

Tom, we've taken 'handfuls of salt' and are indulging in 'speculation based on unsubstantiated reports'.

I'm not sure what else we could say to make it clear we're doubtful this story is true. Suggestions?

I remember when Tom tried that "send me all your money" trick on GEnie.

I've learned since.

Colt,

Dan Darling has the details on Gitmo releases. Two sets are pertinent here.

Some time ago His Majesty's Government requested that we release certain detainees at Gitmo who were British citizens. This was proper under one the Geneva Convention protocols we have signed pertaining to seizure of non-resident foreign nationals in a combat zone. Most governments don't want 'em back and are perfectly happy that we keep their problem people. Tony Blair wanted the British national terrorists cpatured in Afghanistan and Iraq back due to pressure from the Labor Party left wing. I don't know what the terms of the release were or whether & under what terms British security forces watched the dudes aftewards.

Trent Telenko informs that the Pakistani government made a similar request concerning some terrorist Pakistani nationals we had captured and transferred to Gitmo, and that we those released those guys to Pakistani custody, only the Pakistanis then either let 'em go or they escaped. Now in this instance everyone concerned might have been playing intelligence games but nobody is talking, whether or not it was intelligence games, Pakistani negligence, or Pakistani malignity.

So the nationality of the dude in question is important. Was he Pakistani or British? When was he released? Was he released under the intention that he act as a double agent on behalf of allied intelligence? Was he a hard-core type who flatly refused to cooperate with us? Did he pretend to have been turned by us but secretly intend to rejoin Al Qaeda?

There are quite a few possibilities here, and not all of them are bad. IMO speculation is useless.

And this assumes that this particular web site is telling the truth. I wouldn't.

Honor the Dead

Here’s a comment I just posted to Dan Darling over at Winds of Change.

*****

We must kick the enemy’s butt and right now! We must stay focused, our heads in the game, and keep our eye on the ball.

We must ignore the shots of the detractors from the bleachers.

We must win this war.

See my two cents worth in this thread over at Roger L. Simon’s:

RLS Link