Coincidence or Conspiracy

Already there are a whole lot of similarities between 9/11 and 7/7.

• Blair says there is no need for inquiry into how attacks could have been prevented
  
• Consulting Firm Running Drill of Exact Same Attack
  
• Police looking for possible terrorist 'mercenaries'
  
• CCTV camera on bus was not working
• AP says British police knew about the attacks minutes beforehand.

Feel free to discuss the stories as they stand on their own, but a tin-foil hat is still recommended.

N.B: If you want to discuss the stories without conspiracy theorists (which I can definitely understand), try to find another diary with the article you want to discuss--it's likely been submitted already--or if there isn't one up yet just make your own.Update [2005-7-11 17:6:52 by rush22]:The title has been changed from "Conspiracy nuts rejoice" to the current one and I've included a link to the story about the Israeli Embassay being informed minutes before the attack.

Blair says there is no need for inquiry into how attacks could have been prevented

Just like Bush tried to stonewall the 9/11 Commission, Blair wants no part in an investigation of any intelligence failures.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair today will dismiss calls for an inquiry into the London terror attacks.

The Conservatives have called for a probe to see if anything could have been done to prevent the bombings.

But the Prime Minister will use a Commons statement to underline his confidence in the intelligence services and reject demands for an inquiry.

Mr Blair said at the weekend that "all the surveillance in the world" would not stop terrorists determined to attack Britain.

Last night a Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister has confidence in the intelligence services and he won't be holding an inquiry"...

Source: Herald Sun

Consulting Firm Running Drill of Exact Same Attack

Just like the war games exercise simulating hijacked planes flying into buildings the US was running on 9/11, a UK consultancy firm was running their own drill exercise on 7/7 which simulated the exact same attack--same stations and same times.

A consultancy agency with government and police connections was running a drill exercise for an unnamed company which revolved around the London Underground being bombed at the exact same times and locations as was happening in real life on July 7th, BBC Radio 5 has revealed...

Source: Al Jazeera

The name of the group is Visionary Consulting and the source includes an mp3 of the BBC 5 interview.

Police looking for possible terrorist 'mercenaries'
This, I just thought was interesting. White "mercenary terrorists" fit in well with the "US/UK is  behind the attacks" theory.

Police and intelligence agents are investigating the theory that a gang of white "mercenary terrorists" was hired by al-Qa'ida to carry out last week's devastating attacks on London.

The Independent on Sunday can reveal today that investigations into the bombings of three Tube trains and a bus, which left at least 49 people dead, are focusing on the possibility that criminal gangs were paid to mount the worst atrocities in British history...

Source: The Independent

CCTV camera on bus was not working
Just one of the things that some might say "conveniently" didn't work.

...A number of passengers and the bus driver survived the blast, and detectives will interview them in the hope that they can provide clues, all the more so as the CCTV camera on the bus was not working...
Source: Guardian

Police knew about attacks minutes beforehand.
British police apparently knew about the attacks minutes beforehand, and even informed the Israeli Embassay.

British police told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before Thursday's explosions that they had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city, a senior Israeli official said. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had planned to attend an economic conference in a hotel over the subway stop where one of the blasts occurred, and the warning prompted him to stay in his hotel room instead, government officials said....
Source: Associated Press

While I take the "US/UK is behind the attacks" theory pretty much with a grain of salt, I just wish it weren't so damn compelling. Nothing's impossible, and the coincidences here seem, to me at least, pretty unlikely.

But coincidence is a strange thing. Maybe there are so many terrorist drills it was bound to happen. Maybe both Bush and Blair have a point that an inquiry wouldn't help things. To paraphrase Douglas Adams (I don't remember it exactly, but it's from The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul): "People are often calling people they haven't seen in a while only to find out that that person has just died. This they attribute to some sort of sixth sense. The thing is, there are always people dying, and there are always people thinking about someone they haven't seen in a while. In fact, in a country the size of say, the United States, this happens often enough that this particular coincidence must occur at least 10 times a day."

Try to keep that in mind :).