The Friday Furo Questus

Questus Furore:
Terrorists have struck again, this time killing at least fifty in London, and injuring many more.

Time will tell who was responsible, and it would appear the police have a decent amount of evidence to work on. The British appear to be handling this well; they're no strangers to terror, thanks to the IRA. They also still have the ability to respond; the question is will they use it?

The SAS is the most experienced commando force in the world. Just give them a target.

How can one defend against such an attack? I cannot see how, without security becoming so expensive and so intrusive that few will bother with mass transit.

No, the answer is to make conducting terror operations an expensive proposition. Find and kill those who organize, aid, and shelter terrorists, and destroy their assets. This will require an efficient intelligence establishment and an effective military with sophisticated special forces. It will also require a resolve and a ruthlessness that so far we have been lacking.

This is a war to the bitter end. The terrorists fight not to protest poverty, or whine about Iraq or globalization. They seek our end. They seek your and my deaths. We are all enemies in their eyes. If you doubt me, read their words for yourself.

The best defense is a good offense. And a will to be on the offensive.

Recommended Reading:
VDH: "Same Old, Same Old"
"The British may react very differently than the Spanish did after Madrid — by doing nothing rather than by retreating from Iraq. In the corrupt West these days, that is something."

Andrew McCarthy: "Is This A War, Or Isn't It?"

From The Corner:
Iain Murray- "One interesting thing that's come to my attention as the emails fly back and forth across the Atlantic is that there was no suggestion as far as I can see that the England-Australia cricket match that went on today should be canceled. The contrast with the death of Princess Diana is striking: football matches were canceled up and down the country. Today, there has been no maudlin sentimentality displayed at all. Blair's upper lip has been firm where when Diana died it was famously aquiver. It will be interesting to see if mounds of flowers and teddy bears spring up at the crime scenes or whether rather more respect is paid. If the flowers fail to mount up, then it could be the sign that the "Diana era" is over and Britain is returning to normal. For the record, England beat Australia emphatically, by nine wickets."

That would be the old Blitz spirit. Is it stirring?

There's a lot more at National Review.

Mark Steyn: "This is the beginning of a long existential struggle, for Britain and the West. It's hard not to be moved by the sight of Londoners calmly going about their business as usual in the face of terrorism. But, if the governing class goes about business as usual, that's not a stiff upper lip but a death wish."

Random aside: Driving down I-15 yesterday, I noticed that Colonial Flag had changed their display. Now, all seven roadside flagpoles flew Union Jacks, at half-staff.

Thought of the Week:
"Terror is not a new weapon. Throughout history it has been used by those who could not prevail, either by persuasion or example. But inevitably they fail, either because men are not afraid to die for a life worth living, or because the terrorists themselves came to realize that free men cannot be frightened by threats, and that aggression would meet its own response. And it is in the light of that history that every nation today should know, be he friend or foe, that the United States has both the will and the weapons to join free men in standing up to their responsibilities."
John F. Kennedy, 1961

Churchill Quote of the Week:
"We ask no favours of the enemy. We seek from them no compunction. On the contrary, if tonight our people were asked to cast their vote whether a convention should be entered into to stop the bombing of cities, the overwhelming majority would cry, "No, we will mete out to them the measure, and more than the measure, that they have meted out to us." The people with one voice would say: "You have committed every crime under the sun. Where you have been the least resisted there you have been the most brutal. It was you who began the indiscriminate bombing. We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst - and we will do our best." Perhaps it may be our turn soon; perhaps it may be our turn now.

"We live in a terrible epoch of the human story, but we believe there is a broad and sure justice running through its theme. It is time that the enemy should be made to suffer in their own homelands something of the torment they have let loose upon their neighbours and upon the world. We believe it to be in our power to keep this process going, on a steadily rising tide, month after month, year after year, until they are either extirpated by us or, better still, torn to pieces by their own people."

WInston Churchill, July 14, 1941