Six in 10 Americans said they think such a war is likely, while only one-third of the Japanese said so, according to polling done in both countries for The Associated Press and Kyodo, the Japanese news service.

“Man’s going to destroy man eventually. When that will be, I don’t know,” said Gaye Lestaeghe of Freeport, La.

Some question whether that war has arrived, with fighting dragging on in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the U.S. campaign against terrorism.

“I feel like we’re in a world war right now,” said Susan Aser, a real estate agent from Rochester, N.Y.

The Japanese were less likely than Americans to expect a world war, less worried about the threat from North Korea and less inclined to say a first strike with nuclear weapons could be justified.
Full: news.yahoo.com

Devices recovered from the scenes of Thursday’s failed terrorist attacks in London bore striking similarities to material found in the wake of the July 7 bombings.

Forensic experts have not yet established the exact chemical make-up of material found in Leeds and Luton in the wake of the bombings two weeks ago that killed 52 victims and the bombers. But security sources told the Guardian that it was markedly similar in appearance to the material found in containers inside four rucksacks carried by the bombers involved in Thursday’s attacks.

A source described the substance as “liquid mixed with a lump of matter”.

The material used in the July 7 attacks was at first rumoured to be military or commercial explosives. But the discoveries in a car abandoned by the bombers in Luton and in a flat connected with the bombers in Leeds shifted the emphasis to home-made explosives.

It was then suggested that the substance could be acetone peroxide, possibly TATP, nicknamed Mother of Satan because of its extreme volatility. However, police sources say the substance still has not been positively identified.

…But home made explosives such as TATP degrade over time, which could explain why Thursday’s bombs malfunctioned.

It is believed that the detonators on three of the bombs recovered on Thursday exploded, but failed to ignite the main explosives, while the detonator in the fourth device did not even go off.

If the explosives do turn out to be made from the same recipe it will not necessarily prove a definitive link between the two bomb gangs, but would strongly suggest that they may have been a part of the same loosely connected network.
Full: guardian.co.uk

That last paragraph is a doozy, and ‘suggests’ the absurdly tangential nature of all this evidence we’re having thrown at us. Amazing isn’t it, that 4 out of 4 bombs failed to detonate. Hmmm. Calculating the minimum of casualties for the maximum impact of fear. That way when you shoot a kid dead like a dog for jumping a turnstile nobody makes a peep. Why are you going to empty 5 shots into the torso of someone you think has a bomb wrapped around his waist?

Police Shoot Suspected Suicide Bomber
…At Stockwell Station, armed officers opened fire on the suspect after he hurdled a ticket barrier and raced along a platform.

Police screamed at passengers to evacuate and are thought to have shot the suspect as he stumbled on to a train.

Alarmed onlookers said they saw up to 10 plain-clothed officers chasing an Asian-looking man before opening fire.

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair said the shooting was “directly linked” to ongoing anti-terrorist invetigations in the capital.

He said the man had failed to comply with instructions from police before he was shot dead.

The public should not approach these men and should dial 999 immediately if they know of their whereabouts, a spokesman said.

Witness Mark Whitby was on the train as he saw a big man wearing a large coat and “looking absolutely petrified” lurch through the doors.

Admitting to being “totally distraught”, he went on: “He half-tripped, was half-pushed to the floor.

“The policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand, he held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We can confirm that just after 10am armed officers shot a male at Stockwell Underground station.

“A man was challenged by officers and subsequently shot. London Ambulance Service attended the scene. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Police are believed to be under orders to shoot to kill if they believe someone is about to detonate a bomb.

Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: “The officer or officers involved in this clearly felt this suspect was about to detonate a bomb.”

Three eyewitnesses were taken to a nearby veterinary surgery by police before being taken away for interview.

…The vast majority of British Muslims condemn the London bombings but a substantial minority are clearly alienated from modern British society and some are prepared to justify terrorist acts.

The divisions within the Muslim community go deep. Muslims are divided over the morality of the London bombings, over the extent of their loyalty to this country and over how Muslims should respond to recent events.

Most Muslims are evidently moderate and law-abiding but by no means all are.

YouGov sought to gauge the character of the Muslim community’s response to the events of July 7. As the figures in the chart show, 88 per cent of British Muslims clearly have no intention of trying to justify the bus and Tube murders.

However, six per cent insist that the bombings were, on the contrary, fully justified.

Six per cent may seem a small proportion but in absolute numbers it amounts to about 100,000 individuals who, if not prepared to carry out terrorist acts, are ready to support those who do.

Moreover, the proportion of YouGov’s respondents who, while not condoning the London attacks, have some sympathy with the feelings and motives of those who carried them out is considerably larger – 24 per cent.

A substantial majority, 56 per cent, say that, whether or not they sympathise with the bombers, they can at least understand why some people might want to behave in this way.

YouGov also asked whether or not its Muslim respondents agreed or disagreed with Tony Blair’s description of the ideas and ideology of the London bombers as “perverted and poisonous”.

Again, while a large majority, 58 per cent, agree with him, a substantial minority, 26 per cent, are reluctant to be so dismissive.

The responses indicate that Muslim men are more likely than Muslim women to be alienated from the mainstream and that the young are more likely to be similarly alienated than the old.
Full: telegraph.co.uk

As evidenced by events today, open season has been declared on young non-white males. The pictures of the 4 suspects reflect the entire diversity of non-whites in the UK.

At least 45 people have been killed and more than 130 wounded in a string of explosions in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, police said.

The first explosion took place in the Old Market area, popular with tourists.

Other blasts followed in the nearby area of Naama Bay, which is packed with hotels. Witnesses said a four-star hotel was heavily damaged.

Britons, Dutch, Qataris, Kuwaitis and Egyptians were among the casualties, police sources said.

Police sources said initial reports suggested there had been at least four and possibly seven car bombs.
Full: bbc.co.uk

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists are questioning the safety of a Star Wars-style riot control ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq next year.

The Active Denial System weapon, classified as “less lethal” by the Pentagon, fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam at rioters to cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds.

The idea is people caught in the beam will rapidly try to move out of it and therefore break up the crowd.

But New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday that during tests carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, participants playing the part of rioters were told to remove glasses and contact lenses to protect their eyes.

In another test they were also told to remove metal objects like coins from their clothing to avoid local hot spots developing on their skin.

“What happens if someone in a crowd is unable for whatever reason to move away from the beam,” asked Neil Davison, coordinator of the non-lethal weapons research project at Britain’s Bradford University.

“How do you ensure that the dose doesn’t cross the threshold for permanent damage? Does the weapon cut out to prevent overexposure?,” he added.

The magazine said a vehicle-mounted version of the weapon named Sheriff was scheduled for service in Iraq in 2006 and that U.S. Marines and police were both working on portable versions.
yahoo.com/news

The news this morning that a ‘suspected suicide bomber’ had been shot dead at a London train station and that other house raids had resulted in individuals being shot to death by police has been received with barely a mumur of questioning as to who these individuals were and why police needed to use deadly force.

Reuters is now quoting Sky News in saying that the man shot five times at Stockwell was not one of the would-be suicide bombers who attempted to detonate bombs on Thursday and whose CCTV photos have been released.

Experts told the BBC that the shooting was likely carried out by special forces, although eyewitnesses also said police were involved in the pursuit.

The man was pursued, tripped, pushed to the ground and then shot five times in the torso area. If the police and special forces pursuing the man knew he had a bomb that he was potentially about to detonate then why would they risk setting the bomb off by shooting at it?

BBC quoted Roy Ramm, former Met Police specialist operations commander, as saying,

“The fact is that when you’re dealing with suicide bombers they only way you can stop them effectively – and protect yourself – is to try for a head-shot,” he said.

Former government intelligence analyst Crispin Black agreed there was no other way of stopping someone who was an “immediate threat to life”.

So here we can establish that if the police suspect this guy had a bomb strapped to him, they would go for a head shot. Therefore we can conclude that the police knew he didn’t have a bomb so they shot him in the stomach and chest area.

So then why does BBC contradict itself by quoting Professor Michael Clarke, professor of defence studies at King’s College London, as saying,

“The fact that he was shot in this way strongly suggests that it was someone the authorities knew and suspected he was carrying explosives on him.”

Excuse me? We were just told that the only safe way to deal with a suicide bomber is to go for a head shot, otherwise you run a high risk of setting the bomb off. But now they flip it 180 degrees and tell us the opposite, that they were right to shoot in the area where the explosives would be. This doesn’t make any sense.

This is a blatant attempt to justify the cold blooded pursuit and murder of a man that was not one of the suspected suicide bombers involved in yesterday’s attacks and a man who the police knew did not have explosives strapped to his body, which is why they shot him in the torso area.

And what of the witness reports of a bomb belt and wires coming out of the man’s jacket? They seem to have been swept under the rug. The modus operandi is simple. Put out the story that this guy was a suicide bomber with wires hanging off him about to blow a train up and the public have no problem in accepting the response of the police in killing him. The later retraction that he was not a suicide bomber goes under the radar as the British population prepares to go on a Friday night drink binge or curl up and fester in front of the television.

So these are the new rules we have to live our lives by? If you’re late for the bus or train and are seen running then the police can just mow you down no questions asked?

If, as in the case of this individual, you’re wearing a heavy coat on a relatively hot day (and it certainly hasn’t been as hot today in England as it was last week) then that’s also a sure fire sign that you’re about to blow yourself up?

What about people from scorching hot climates who haven’t adapted to the British weather? What Brits call hot, someone from Pakistan would call mild.

It appears that law enforcement has been granted the same powers as President Bush. If the suspect is defined as an enemy combatant or a terrorist they can be located and killed on the spot. No evidence, no trial, no questions asked.

The British public needs to ask serious questions about who is really behind these bombings and what these outrageous new police abuses mean for the future of freedom in this country.
prisonplanet.tv

Another Phony Al-Qaeda Group Claims Responsibility For Latest London Bombings
A group linked to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the latest London bombings, as forensic teams examine the rucksack bombs found on a bus and in Tube trains.

The group, Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, also claimed responsibility for the explosions on July 7.

The statement’s authenticity could not be immediately verified and some doubt has been cast on the group’s previous claims.

Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade was described by the Boston Globe as a “phantom organization.” The same group claimed responsibility for the Madrid train bombing.

There is no evidence that the group even exists. They have claimed responsibility for everything from the 2003 blackout to car bombings in Iraq, yet in no case is there any proof of their involvement.

Ben Venzke, CEO of IntelCenter, a private company that specializes in analyzing terrorist messages for government agencies, said: “They started claiming responsibility for just about everything in the world. We’ve never been able to determine if it is just one person sitting at a computer having fun or if it really is a group.”

NEW YORK — Police on Thursday began random searches of bags and packages carried by people entering city subways, a new security measure announced after another round of bomb attacks in London.

“We just live in a world where, sadly, these kinds of security measures are necessary,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “Are they intrusive? Yes, a little bit. But we are trying to find that right balance.”

The inspections began Thursday on a small-scale basis in at least one location in Manhattan, where a cluster of officers was seen stopping five men over a 15-minute period as they entered a subway at evening rush hour. In each instance, the officers peered briefly into the men’s bags, then waved them through.

Full-scale inspections are scheduled to be in place by rush hour Friday.
Passengers carrying bags will be selected at random before they pass through turnstiles, and those who refuse to be searched won’t be allowed to ride, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
Full: washingtonpost.com

A man widely reported to have slipped into Britain to “mastermind” the London bombings was an innocent Pakistani who happened to have a similar name to a suspected al-Qa’ida leader.

The man, in his 30s, was the subject of intense media speculation surrounding his visit to the UK, which culminated in him flying out of London the day before the attacks. His presence in the country, apparently unmonitored, led to criticism of MI5.

However, The Independent has learnt that the man had no role in the attacks. Inquiries in the past week have discovered that the man was an innocent Pakistani traveller who had a similar name to an al-Qa’ida terrorist who was on a watch list of several foreign security agencies.

A similar mix-up is understood to be behind the claims by US intelligence that Germaine Lindsay, 19, the bomber who carried out the King’s Cross attack, was on a British watch list. This was because the “fourth” bomber was wrongly identified in the United States as Lindsay Jermaine – someone with a similar name to a terrorist suspect.

Scotland Yard is concentrating on establishing the movements of the four bombers from Leeds and Aylesbury, and what explosives they used.

Sniffer dogs are being used on the Tube to detect explosives. Dozens of dogs will be deployed throughout the London Underground system and the police may also introduce random checks using metal and bomb detectors on the Underground.

* Police have until Saturday to continue questioning a 29-year-old man arrested in West Yorkshire last week in connection with the bombings. He is the only person to have been arrested so far in Britain over the attacks. Full: Independent.co.uk

Notice, they don’t print his name. And what happened to all that backstory, and to the ‘suicide belt’ full of explosives he was purportedly walking arounf Karachi with?(see below earlier today) And then they throw the Germaine Lindsay stuff in to boot. A deliberate disinformation campaign. Sick and sicker. The mini bomb blasts today provide a good diversion. The Independent pronounces London “A City of Fear.” Fear is indeed the name of the game. Fearful people will buy any crap.

LONDON – Explosions struck three London Underground stations and a bus at midday Thursday in a chilling but less deadly replay of the suicide bombings that killed 56 people two weeks ago.

Only one person was reported wounded, but the lunch-hour explosions caused major shock and disruption in the capital and were hauntingly similar to the July 7 bombings by four attackers.

The London police commissioner confirmed Thursday that four explosions took place in what he described as “a very serious incident.”

“We’ve had four explosions — four attempts at explosions,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said outside police headquarters at Scotland Yard.

“At the moment the casualty numbers appear to be very low … the bombs appear to be smaller” than those detonated July 7.

At a news gathering, Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed for calm. He said the people behind the incidents are trying to “scare people” and “make them anxious.”

Blair said police were hoping to get the city’s transit system “back to normal as quickly as possible.”

Chase
Minutes before the prime minister spoke, police with their weapons drawn escorted a man away from the gates at the end of Downing Street.

A police officer drew a firearm and aimed it at a target beyond the range of television cameras. Another officer then led away a man whose black shirt was undone. The man also wore black trousers and appeared to be of Asian or Middle Eastern origin.

Meantime, police were searching a London hospital Thursday for a man wearing a blue shirt with wires protruding from a hole in the back, a TV report said.

An internal memo at University College Hospital in north London urged staff to watch for the man, described as a black or Asian male, about 6-feet-2, Sky News television reported.

One witness told Sky TV that a fellow subway passenger told him a backpack exploded at the Warren Street station and there were reports of smoke.

Sky TV reported that police said no chemical agents were involved in the explosions.

Explosions also were reported at the Shepherds Bush and Oval stations.

Emergency teams were sent to all three stations after the incidents, which began at 12:38 p.m.

Witnesses said they had seen what could have been a would-be bomber running away after dropping a rucksack on one of the trains.

“We all got off on the platform and the guy just ran and started running up the escalator,” one witness who gave her name as Andrea told the BBC.

“Everyone was screaming for someone to stop him. He ran past me…and he ran out of the station. In fact he left a bag on the train,” she said.

Passengers were evacuated off a bus in Hackney, east London, and police cordoned off streets nearby. The bus company said a blast blew out the windows of the bus but a police officer on the scene said there were no signs of damage.

A police officer told Reuters: “The bus driver heard a bang at the back of the bus. He thought it was probably a vehicle that had hit him.

“He stopped at a nearby bus stop and saw a suspect package at the back of the bus.”

The fire brigade put on protective clothing before moving towards the bus.

Closed-circuit TV cameras on Hackney Road showed the No. 26 bus immobilized at a stop with its indicator lights flashing. The area around the bus had been cordoned off.

Full: msnbc.msn.com

In the early confusion about what is actually happening in London, several things are already clear.

– This immediately stalls questions about the first bombing. The mainstream media were finally beginning to highlight the fact that the government’s official story did not fit together. This takes those issues off the front pages.

– This further promulgates the fearmongering and creates a pliable public that is willing to accept draconian anti-terror laws. They are trying to turn us into Israel, with an alert or a bombing every fortnight.

– On the very day that the Patriot Act is due to be renewed, Bush can use the alert level to grease the skids and bully Congress into re-authorizing the bill.

Related: Bush sees London attacks as reason for Patriot Act

Some early reports from the scene of the incidents are very interesting.

Reports are that Arabs were seen running from the sitesof the explosion. London’s population is 20% Arab. If a bomb exploded near you, would you run? One of the Arabs is reported as saying “what is wrong with these people?” which suggests he was just scared but was immediately identified as a scapegoat.

Sky News is showing scenes of random Arabs being arrested. Watch for the fearmongering of ‘four terrorists on the loose waiting to attack’ – this will enable emergency stop and search powers to be used. How likely is it that all four bombs would fail to detonate?

ITN news reported that one of the suspected suicide bombers was arrested and taken into Whitehall. Why would somebody so potentially dangerous be taken into a government building and not to the police station?

Sky News reported that ‘something was in the air’ and that several stations had been closed due to an alert at 11am.

BBC reported that one of the individuals’ rucksacks exploded and he looked surprised and dismayed. Who is planting these devices in people’s luggage? Or are these people copycats?

Sky News reported that Tony Blair was already in a crisis meeting in an underground bunker which overlapped with the alert. Another case of preparing to ‘control’ the chaos as it unfolded?

Sky News also reports Blair was set to meet with MI5 and MI6 as well as Secret Service later today. This suggests Blair’s schedule was planned ahead of time to coincide with these incidents.

There are already ‘Atta passport’ type stories of Arabs planting the bombs and running away and being chased by members of the public. This immediately creates the psy-ops stroyboard that this is the work of Al-Qaeda.

The Israeli government is renowned for pulling off these dummy bombings to keep their population in a state of fear.
Full: prisonplanet.co