According to
The Times of London, the would be July 21st bombers were not, in their own words, religious fanatics, but inspired by their opposition to the war in Iraq.
The article focuses on a possible third wave of terror in London, but the underlying unspoken questions are whether the religious angle has been overplayed and whether political motivation for terrorism is an aspect vastly underplayed in the media.
Osman, a 27-year-old asylum seeker from Ethiopia who has British citizenship, was arrested by Italian police at his brother's flat in Rome after an international manhunt.
He is reported to have travelled to France via the Eurostar and then to Italy. Shortly before his arrest, Osman made one phone call to a Saudi Arabian mobile number. Osman is also said to have confessed almost immediately to Italian police. "Yes, it is true, I was there on July 21. I'd been given a rucksack," he reportedly told police.
Osman is said to have claimed the attacks had been planned by Ibrahim after the two had met at a gym in Notting Hill, west London. He said they had acted independently, had no links to the July 7 attacks, in which 56 people died, and had been taken by surprise by the suicide bombings two weeks earlier.
His group decided to carry out the attacks as a statement about the war in Iraq but was not linked to Al-Qaeda or any other terrorists. Contrary to some reports, he told his interrogators that the plotters did intend to explode their rucksacks but that they did not intend to kill anybody.
He is reported to have said: "Religion had nothing to do with this. We watched films. We were shown videos with images of the war in Iraq. We were told we must do something big. That's why we met."[Emphasis added]
AFAIAC, there is no good reason for terrorism, but this statement from Osman flies in the face of the Bush/Blair and western media portrayals of what the West is up against...