Blair's Bombs

Rachel from North London is an admirably independent voice for victims of the 7th July bombings in London. Today she merely links to another survivor's story. It is quite something. The details are what make Steven Lovegrove's account of one summer's morning remarkable: the words he said to himself; the greed of the taxi-driver; the walking home from the hospital; the people crossing themselves. Above all though, for me, were two things: the sense that it never happened in time. There was only ever before and after. And secondly, the staggering question and answer in the immediate aftermath of the explosion: "a young man behind me asked, 'Why would they bomb us?' I replied, 'Olympics'."

Elsewhere, Lenin's Tomb, in responding to the destruction of the Samarra Shrine, reminds us that Blair's occupiers have already been caught once preparing terror bombings to foment civil strife (see penultimate paragraph) and, oh yes, slaughter civilians. So it's likely the horror stories we might read if Iraqi survivors wrote blogs - and blogs in English - would feature such questions too. The answer would be different though.