Jack Straw the British Foreign Secretary remarked that the terrorist had attacked Indonesia, Spain, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, although they were not part of the US led coalition. It needs little intelligence to see that the Bali attacks were to punish vociferous US ally Australia (with some other attacks in Indonesia also targeting Australians).Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq after the Madrid bombings and earlier pointed attacks on its forces in Iraq. The ruling Socialists won elections on its promise of withdrawing Spanish troops.

In two Istanbul bombings in end 2003 , the targets were a synagogue and Jews ,and the British Consulate and a British Bank .Al Qaida which sprung up from Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden’s philosophy is opposed to the policies of luxury loving Saudi ruling princes and the elite and has attacked foreigners in the Kingdom.

But the British public saw through the spin .An opinion poll last week showed that two-thirds of UK citizens saw a connection between the Iraq war and the bombings.

Wrote Osama Saeed, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain in the Guardian “By putting the onus on Muslims to defeat terror, the Prime Minister [Tony Blair] absolves himself of responsibility. Muslims are not in denial of our duties, but whom are we meant to be combating? The security services had no idea about all that has gone on in London, so how are we as ordinary citizens to do better?”

”It is not Muslims but Mr. Blair who is in denial. He was advised that the war in Iraq would put us in more danger, not less. Silvio Berlusconi has admitted Italy is in danger because of his alliance with Bush; Mr. Blair should do the same,” he added. Jack Straw has just apologized for Britain's role in the Srebrenica massacre, but accepts no blame for London bombings.

British Intelligence leak and London think tank expose Blair;

In February 2003, a month before the invasion on Iraq, Whitehall's joint intelligence committee had told Blair that "al-Qaida and associated groups continued to represent by far the greatest terrorist threat to western interests, and that threat would be heightened by military action against Iraq". The collapse of the Iraqi regime would increase the risk of chemical and biological warfare agents or technology finding their way into the hands of terrorists. This was now leaked to the media.

Ten days after 7 July carnage, London has reputed Royal Institute of International Affairs published a paper co-written by British Professor Paul Wilkinson, described as an epitome of conventional wisdom. "The UK is at particular risk," warned the paper, "Because it is the closest ally of the United States" and joined US-led military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. It said a key problem facing the government was that it "has been conducting counter- terrorism policy 'shoulder to shoulder' with the US, not in the sense of being an equal decision-maker, but rather as a pillion passenger compelled to leave the steering to the ally in the driving seat".

The paper continued, "it gave a boost to the al-Qaida network's propaganda, recruitment and fundraising, caused a major split in the coalition, provided an ideal targeting and training area for al-Qaida-linked terrorists, and deflected resources and assistance that could have been deployed to assist the Karzai government and to bring Bin Laden to justice".

Even Lord Butler's report on the use of intelligence on Iraq's weapons programme suggested that Intelligence, "can be a dangerous tool if its limitations are not recognized by those who seek to use it ...” those limitations were amply demonstrated in London on July 7.

Professor Richard Pape of University of Chicago, author of a book Dying to Win - The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorists has conducted a comprehensive study of every act of suicide terrorism over the past 25 years to understand what drives suicide bombers and why suicide terrorism is on the rise around the world. He says that it is too simplistic to assume Islamic fundamentalism as the central cause. America has misread the primary motivation of suicide bombers. Majority of the vital suicide bombers and terrorists are quite highly educated and not Madarsa types as glibly claimed.

Bush comforts Blair;

It was amusing to note that US President George W. Bush, out of some concern and even pity finally gave some comfort to his buddy Blair .Just before the G-8 meeting in UK he had clearly said that Blair had joined the invasion for his own interests and there was no quid pro quo.

Apart from being faithful to its umbilical ally USA, there was the prospect of military and financial gains. The 1991 Gulf war on Iraq was paid for by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany and others. Both UK and WE did very well out of it, with US charging even for soon to be discarded European winter military uniforms. During the air operations by US and UK planes to provide protection to Kurds in north Iraq or bombing Iraq at will , both did well out of it too. But now there seemed little gain except bringing Baghdad to London.

When there were some problems in the UK joining the invasion on Iraq in March 2003 , with American troops ready to march to implement ‘Operation Iraqi freedom’ , the US Defense Secretary said that it did not matter if UK could not join. The British keep on claiming how they won the second world war but when the Americans get annoyed or are in a mood they just thumb down the British .Look at the highly popular film on Gen Patton , in which Field Marshall Montgomery is depicted nothing but a buffoon .

Curbs on freedom in UK and USA ;

Of course, the London bombings were another opportunity to further tighten curbs on freedom of US citizens. US Patriot Act, the premier American anti-terrorism tool was extended, making permanent 14 of 16 provisions of the original law .The Act was passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was to expire at the end of the year. It also gave a 10-year extension to two provisions -- one allowing roving wiretaps and other allowing searches of library and medical records – in spite of some passionate arguments between Democrats and Republicans.