There are some indications that the bomb that exploded on the London bus was not intended to go off there. If so, the wrong explosion could have saved a lot of lives in other Underground trains or even large numbers of American tourists. There is even more reason to believe that the “terrorists” may have been a very small group or even only one person.
At first sight the London bombs are superficially similar to the Madrid bombs however there are significant differences:
The Madrid bombs were large and contained in rucksacks. There is every indication from the extent of the injuries and compartively small loss of life in crowded underground trains that these were much smaller. Rucksacks are difficult to leave on a London tube train but a smaller device concealled in, say a folded newspaper left on the windowsill (not an unusual sight) is easier to conceal.
The Madrid bombs were left on trains going into central Madrid from several suburbs. Evidence is that the London bombs could have all been planted in one station.
The Madrid bombs were carefully timed to go off at the same time, the London bombs went off over a period. There is a possibility that at least one bomb went off early and certainly not in the location intended.
It is probably fair to assume at this stage that there was an “Islamic” motive behind these bombs. This does not mean that the bomber(s) were members or trained by any particular organisation and certainly they could have been British muslims influenced by numerous grievances and whipped up by fundamentalist Imams distorting the Koran. We saw groups of youths with such views during the General Election when even George Galloway’s election meetings were disrupted by youths telling people that elections are anti-Islamic. During that campaign several of the candidates including Galloway received threats.
I understand from what the BBC security correspondent says he has been told (sorry about that roundabout way of putting it but I wanted to be precise) that the bomber(s) could be home grown and are British born muslims. The co-incidence of the first day of the G8 meeting cannot be dismissed and Bush’s presence in the country, even hundreds of miles away, would provide more publicity.
He also reported that they are looking at whether the tube bombs were placed on the trains at Kings Cross. All the trains passed through that station and the bus No30 which blew up leaves from outside that station. The bus however was not on its normal route and had been diverted down the road where it exploded. Apparently someone was heard asking what road it was. Could that have been a single bomber going to plant further bombs who then panicked and set off more he was carrying? If the target was the tube network, the bus diverted just before it got to Euston station where two lines run through that do not serve Kings Cross. Another possibility is that the bomber was headed for the London Planetarium/Madame Tussauds Waxworks which are very popular with US tourists.
Apart from a nebulous “tube network” could there have been more specific targets? The Aldgate station is a few hundred yards from the big East London Mosque and is just in Galloway’s constituency. Could it have been a punishment for voting against their interpretation of the Koran? Alternatively, two of the bombs started on routes that would have taken them under Westminster and the third near to Trafalgar Square. Planting more at Euston would hit the Northern Line through Charing Cross (Kings Cross is on the wrong branch) and Victoria, close to Westminster and a route away by tube.
While all this is speculation, there is at least a strong possibility that this is not analogous to the sleeper cell organisation in Madrid but much more like a British version of Timothy McVeigh.
Wouldn’t that put Bush and Blair in an interesting position, if it wasn’t al Quida but a lone, local malcontent. Of course, they’d still tie it into the “worldwide Moslem extremist movement”…
Thanks for sharing this, londonbear…there is so much BS running around the US media…I watched only about 10 minutes of it before I had to turn it off.
Our country learned NOTHING from Tim McVeigh, if it turns out that these bombs were “home-grown”, I have confidence that yours will do better!
Keep us posted on new things you find out!
If the bombs were packet sized, they were awefully powerful, despite the relatively smaller explosions as compared with the Spain bombings.
That suggests HE, from whence would black market HE find its way to London (assuming al-Q hasn’t been the beneficiary of IRA decomissioning)?
Mmmmm… unsecured arms depots in Iraq?!?!
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To tear off the rooftop on the bus and the minor damage to lower floor on bus, he estimated 2kg explosives could have been sufficient. A lot of debris, but the number of deaths and casualties were limited.
IRA support? Has links with Arab terror groups, specifically Gadaffi of Libya.
See also recent suspicion of links to Columbia drugs operation.
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2 kilos of explosive compound (RDX has a specific gravity of around 1.7) would take up about 1200 cubic centimeters, which (if my math is correct) is about 75 cubic inches. A cube just over 4″ on a side…
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Am I reading the commentary right …
“They will not have died in vain.”
WTF! She has only emotions and knowledge of NFL.
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A very interesting and important hypothesis; here in the US, the general terror level has remained – it is only elevated at public transportation systems.
This was the only online link I could find, but I saw the same quote in this mornings hardcopy of amNY (free morning paper). Maybe Chertoff already suspects that the London-bombs were homegrown as well.
If it were Al-Qaeda, Bush has a lot to answer for. He took his eyes of the ball and illigally diverted resources from the Afghanistan theatre to prepare his and his cronies war-for-riches (WFR). He abandoned the real WOT and created a ‘nursery’ and training arena for the new generation of terrorists.
We cannot let them spin this to justify more of the same!
It’s been confirmed that the 30 was on a diversion, owing to the construction going on at King’s Cross. It has also been confirmed that had the bus not been on the diversion, it would have been somewhere quite close (one can never be sure with traffic) to the station itself, and quite possibly in front of it.
As for the bus itself, it never made it to King’s Cross on the day in question – it starts in Hackney, and ends in Marble Arch. As I mentioned earlier, it was diverted away from King’s Cross.
I’d also be wary of suggesting that any organization planted these bombs with the intent that the go off underneath something important. Thee tube network was used a a bomb shelter during the Blitz – if it can keep the explosion from a V2 out, it can certainly keep a few kilos of C4 (if that’s what ends up being the explosive force) in.
And lastly,
has been confirmed (and announced in the media – I saw it on Sky News) to have been the driver of the bus. It was the first day of the diversion, and thus his first day on the route.