An unconditional condemnation but let's get one thing straight

The terrible events that occured in London deserve a swift expression of empathy for the victims and an equally swift condemnation of those who committed these acts. I have no hesitation in making either.

Having said that, let's get one thing straight. The cause of this attack is that extremist groups, arising out of non-democratic and non-politically permeable societies believe that as long as Western governments and Western companies continue to act in the middle east [and other parts of the developing world] in their 'national interest' even when this interest runs counter to any morality, Western or otherwise, they will never have the chance to shape their own societies. It's not because they want to 'change our way of life' or because they 'hate our freedoms. This mythology is the most dangerous fallicy in the world today. They certainly do not approve of many Western behaviours, but neither do they approve of some Mongolian or Brazilian behaviours. The reason those countries are not attacked is because they are not activily involved in interfering in Muslim countries, not are they perceived to be.

The first step in winning the war on terror will be to recognise one cannot win a war on terror. The American, British and Australian war of aggression on a country that had not attacked them and which did not pose any reasonable threat to them [Iraq] demostrates that the war on terror is a dangerous, open-ended catch-all that has done nothing but stir up a pandora's box of violence and extremism. The irony of all this is that this will be added to Sept 11th, the Bali bombings, & Madrid as the great examples of why the 'war on terrorism' needs to be fought. To put this in perspective, what happened in Britain is happening every other day in Iraq - people who are just as innocent are dying because of a hell created by our own governments overthrowing a stable if oppressive government which at least kept the water running. Neo-cons will say that Iraqis have freedom and this is the price they must pay - well cut the arrogance, it's not George Bush's kids who are paying the price it's ordinary Iraqis who have to live in shite and dirt-poor Americans who have to fight for your fundamentalist freedoms.

When Americans begin to consider whether it is in their national interest to give more foreign aid to Israel that they do to the entire African continent, or whether in might be a good idea to spend money educating their own poor people rather than employing them in a military that is more powerful and more expensive that the rest of the world's combined, perhaps the extremists will be starved of their oxygen. Instead of invading countries to create democracies, how about removing trade barriers from those that exist?

Those who committed Thursday's atrocities are not absolved in any way from their actions by these facts. However, perhaps we in the West should start realising that other people are suffering as well, their lives are just as important and as valuable as ours, and that George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard should be held accountable for not acting in our interests let alone in accordance with international or moral laws. Perhaps when we give Osama his lethal injection, George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld will be next in the queue.