Anybody out there who, like me, is approaching fifty can recall that the UK has been the target of terror attacks for over a third of a century. Was there ever a time when the reaction here to these events ever came close to approaching the order of screeching magnitude we see today over what amounts to...
...a couple of duds?
Between 1973 and 2001, in London alone, there were some pretty spectacularly well coordinated and executed attacks, including an attempt that nearly took out Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Of course, I have not lived in England and so cannot fathom the prevailing emotional state that these events provoked. But it would do us well to remind ourselves that the IRA and its subservient tentacles had far more power to intimidate Britons when they were capable of stuff like this...
1973, March 8: two IRA car bombs in London explode outside the Old Bailey and government's agriculture department headquarters, killing one person and wounding more than 150
1974, October 5: two IRA bombs explode in pubs in the London suburb of Guildford; five dead, more than 50 injured
November 21: two IRA bombs in Birmingham kill 19 and wound more than 180
1982, July 20: two IRA bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in London kill 11 British soldiers and wound more than 40, mostly civilian onlookers
1983, December 17: IRA car bomb explodes outside Harrods department store, killing six people and wounding about 100
1984 October 12: IRA targets conference of ruling Conservative party, killing five and wounding 24, but narrowly missing the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher
1989, September 22: the IRA bombs the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, killing 10 soldiers and wounding more than 30
1991, February 7: IRA fires three homemade mortar shells at No 10 Downing Street, the British prime minister's official residence in London. No injuries
1992, April 10: a massive IRA truck bomb in London's financial district kills three and causes hundreds of millions of pounds worth in damage
April 24: an IRA truck bomb in London's financial district, killing one and causing heavy damage
1996, February 9: IRA ends a 17-month ceasefire with a third massive truck bomb in London's financial district, killing two
February 18: an IRA bomber accidentally kills himself aboard a London double-decker bus, five injured
June 15: for the first time, the IRA targets a different English city - Manchester - with a massive truck bomb, wrecking the central shopping area and wounding about 200
2000, September 20: IRA dissidents fire rocket-propelled grenades at headquarters of MI6 security agency. No injuries.
This is not to discount the very real threat from psychotics bent on homicidal destruction. Perusing the list tells you that the IRA, at least as time went on, targeted either soldiers or those at the centers of power most responsible for stepping on the throats of the Irish. Judging by the train bombings in London and Madrid, our current crop of astute Al Qaeda-allied bombers hold no such scruples. And yet, given the sheer ineptitude shown in this week's attempts, the front page press given them, not to mention the wingnut attempts at holding these incidents up as proof of that all Western civilization is teetering on the brink, does not inspire confidence in our ability to prioritize. The constitutional crisis looming over Congressional subpoenas consistently merits no better than page six coverage in my local paper. Is it me, or does this inversion of our priorities stand as the bigger threat to the future of our society than a handful of loons who do not even take the time to understand the basic principles of combustion?