The War on Terr

I have to admit right after those London bombings last week I had a little bit of a 9-11 despair attack. The memories of what happened here were palpable, down to the fleeting image of the towers burning from my window. Of course the worst thing about these things is the loss of innocent life and the utter feeling of sadness about the human condition and how and why we've gotten to this stage. But there is an interesting narrative that's emerging, which points to the state of mind of extemist bombers, one that doesn't emphasize fanatical devotion to imposing Islamic fundamentalist states, but one that recognizes the oppression of Islam by the West, not only in the Middle East, but in Europe. Right now numerous stories are being published in various outlets about suicide bombers and how they've become kind of a lifestyle option, a way to deal with things by young people that almost echoes the problems with teenage suicide and mass school shootings among the comfortable classes of the First World.
The reaction to all of this was also worrisome. My first feeling was that the same sort of fear and paranoia would take hold and strengthen the neoconservatives the same way that 9-11 did. The famous W. repetition of the World Trade Center attack mantra was eerily prescient. The Sandra Day O'Connor resignation and the subsequent frothing by the right over appointing a staunch ultra-conservative to replace her represented an uncomfortable context for what seemed to be another sharp turn to the right in the public consciousness brought on by the London bombings.
But it hasn't been that simple. London is also having a mild Madrid-like reaction to what happened--a frazzled man lurked behind Christianne Amapour on a CNN live feed recently and shouted "This is about Iraq." She smiled and said outright that this was a significant thread in the London dialog over why the bombing happened. Then, thanks to Americuh's remarkable isolationism and lack of interest in anything going on outside its borders, the sudden rush of ultra-patriotism I was worried about hasn't really materialized. Haven't even been searched on the subway yet. The Bush sludge goes on, with things getting more and more nervous for the neocons with the Rove inquiry, and how it becomes obvious that he outed Valerie Plame.

It's still kind of strange for me to be so outraged on behalf of a couple of CIA agents. Politics makes strange bedfellows, yo. It remains to be seen how much impact this will really have. Certainly Watergate slid around in people's consciousnesses for quite a while before things really blew up, but it seemed the Nixon tapes had more to do with that than anything else. But everything seems to be tied up with this...the Ashcroft resignation, the Powell resignation, the Negroponte resignation, even the Bolton nomination. Who knows how Roberts is tied up in the web of lies? It seems amazing that the nonsense goes on. And they renewed the Patriot Act while the West nervously absorbed the news of a second bombing attempt in London. All clear now? We're still at war, Dubya reminds us. The War on Terr.