The War on Trust

Let's look at some ghastly numbers.

According to The Observer, as of July 7, and including the 52 killed on London's transport system, al-Qaida has been responsible for 3,979 deaths in 18 attacks since 1992. And well over 15,000 have been injured. This includes 9-11, but excludes the group's ever-growing body count in Iraq and Afghanistan, which could easily double this figure.

Other parts of the world also continue to suffer at the hands of this group. On July 10, over 20 people were injured in a blast in Turkey, six Afghan policemen were beheaded by alleged Taliban guerrillas and at least 26 died in bomb attacks in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Mosul. We must not ignore them, even as we mourn for those who died in London.

Ministry of denial

But estimates for those killed around the world since 9-11 by America, Britain and their allies is considerably higher, with 100,000 deaths in Iraq alone since the invasion commenced in 2003. Tony Blair and his kennel master in Washington DC are aware that every Iraqi killed by a foreign soldier recruits fighters from the Middle East, Europe and North America faster than anything else. The former head of London's Metropolitan police, Lord Stevens, said he believed 3,000 British Muslims have passed through al-Qaida training camps, though he offered no evidence.

Blair and Bush have whole ministries that give them this information, but just as weapons of mass destruction were the buzz words that shut out the UN investigators and justified the war, these supreme beings continue to exist in a bubble of denial when it comes to admitting that maybe, just maybe, their responsibility for deaths in Iraq might have fanned the flames at home. It oughtn't take a great leap in imagination.

It is a race to the bottom. Until attacks stop having the desired effect of stirring up fear and hatred, or until a real dialogue is attempted and succeeds (with concessions made that truly benefit Muslims hurt by Western hegemony), it seems as though we are stuck with intransigence and death.

Blasé bombing

Living through a dozen significant bombings in London in my 15 years as a resident there, I became accustomed to how this affected everyday life: there were no garbage cans in the Underground or on the streets after blasts in Camden Town, and even a small bag of dumped rubbish could result in evacuations of entire city blocks. An abandoned car sent police into apoplexy.

My firsthand security experiences include being evacuated twice while working at my desk at two different newspapers (once for a bomb and once for fake anthrax powder); being uncomfortably close to both IRA blasts that wrecked London's financial district; missing a friend's discovery of an IRA incendiary bomb in his bookshop minutes after I left him there; and being trapped in a ferociously hot Underground carriage in a tunnel for two hours because the train ahead had a suspect parcel.

These experiences galvanized my attention. I am grateful it got no worse than that. The admirable preparedness of the London's emergency services, and the general stoicism, defiance and compassion of Londoners themselves comes from hard-won experience. I liked to think that such experiences made me fairly unflappable. Silly me.

Safer in South Africa

On September 11, 2001, I witnessed the shutdown of the whole of London. The long-standing affinity between New York and London meant that this day Londoners could feel their vulnerability, too. I remember the night news editor on The Guardian turning to me as we looked at the TV, the glorious sunset strangely illuminating the clouds of dust and smoke still floating over the ruins of the World Trade Centre, and saying: "And I always thought Diana's death would be the biggest story of my career." In the aftermath of 9-11, people were very spooked. I flew to a family holiday in Ireland ten days after the attack in a near panic, grateful the flight was only 50 minutes. After some discussion, my husband and I decided it might be best to move elsewhere. It turned out that others felt the same way, leaving great jobs and a world-class newspaper to return home to New Zealand or South Africa after many years abroad. As time went by, following our move to Vancouver, it seemed possible to believe that London would be spared, not in the least because of its enormous Muslim population. I should have known better.

Et tu, Canada?

We have no knowledge of these things in Canada. Not yet. And lest we forget Canada is apparently on a list as one of Osama bin Laden's potential targets due to Canada's presence in Afghanistan.

The unpalatable truth is that indiscriminate attacks are now potentially part of our landscape and we will have to get used to it, perhaps as much as Londoners. With the random nature of these attacks, it is safe to say that Vancouver is as much a target as Bali, Madrid or Morocco, particularly with its status as an Olympic city.

John Furlong, head of the 2010 organizing committee, said he believes the event's $175 million security budget is sufficient. Furlong said he "did not want security to be the story of the 2010 Games," but he might not have much say in the matter if an attack succeeds here before or during the Games.

'Paranoia' planning

In terms of security and preparedness, it doesn't have to all be about identity cards, paranoia and police with stop-and-search mandates, though some hard decisions in this area may need to be made. There are 7,800 video security cameras on the London Underground alone, which should now prove invaluable in the search for the bombers. Are Vancouverites prepared to accept comparable numbers on the Translink system? Let the arguments commence.

Politicians may one day deem it necessary. They should, however, start with getting better information out to the public. In comparison to the UK, I feel completely ill informed here, therefore turning to CNN to watch America stew in its own panic. If as Canadians we can learn to put our nail clippers in the suitcase instead of the hand luggage, we can be taught to work with emergency preparedness systems. Too many seem to see an attack as someone else's problem, despite Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan saying otherwise.

We could also do a great deal more to learn about the many cultures in this country and their concerns. Education, ideally mandatory in schools, could do much to battle xenophobia. I am pleased that my son can learn about Hanukkah or Chinese New Year in school: now how about Eid or Diwali?

'Richmond to Rome'

The backlash of 7-7 for British Muslims has been immediate. According to The Guardian newspaper, the Muslim Council of Britain received 30,000 hate messages via e-mail on the day of the blasts, and the police received reports of 70 incidents of race attacks by Friday afternoon, including fires at mosques in Leeds and Kent. There have been attacks in response to the London bombs reported as far away as New Zealand. And you can bet that other non-white individuals will suffer. The first lynching in the States after 9-11 was of a Sikh man.

The worst critics try to tie all Muslims to Bin Laden's Wahhabi-Qutbist attack squads, but this is like saying that an Orthodox fascist like Serbian general Ratko Mladic in Bosnia speaks for all Christians from Richmond to Rome. London gained the 2012 Olympics on July 6 in part because of its multicultural tolerance. But multiculturalism was always under attack from the right while I lived there. Acceptance of the concept may be an even greater challenge now, but it is also that much more necessary.

'Mixed-up' birth

Probably the happiest single moment during my years in London was the birth of my son in University College Hospital in Bloomsbury in 1998. A Hindu consultant doctor, midwives who were Irish, English, West Indian, Pakistani and Australian -- ethnicities, religions and social backgrounds were all mixed-up in a vibrant way that day. I kept thinking about the poet Benjamin Zephaniah poem, "The London Breed":

The music of the world is here Dis city can play any song They came to here from everywhere Tis they that made dis city strong

Does that sound like anywhere else you know? I could always identify with that aspect of London, because it seemed to meet the Canadian ideal. I was moved by the thought that all these people, with such different cultures and experiences to bring to the delivery table, were helping my child come into this life. I intend for him to grasp that gift with both hands.

'The capital of the infidels'

One of the several groups that so far claim responsibility for the London attacks called the city "the capital of the infidels." They would no doubt refer to the Muslims who died on Thursday as apostates, not true followers of the Q'uran, for living there. Justification for outrageous and murderous acts is generally played out by dehumanizing the opponent. Fascists, racists and religious bigots do it, as does anyone who justifies their superiority through subjugation and annihilation.

The problem is that too many people on "our side" use terms that are pretty much the same as the bombers and as ugly. "Stuff happens," said Donald Rumsfeld when asked about the death of innocent civilians in Iraq. Extremists in every direction. It makes me feels as though we are in for a long war.

Cathryn Atkinson was an editor on the Comment and Analysis pages of The Guardian newspaper from 1998 to 2003. She resided in London from 1988 until 2003, and freelanced in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia during the 1991 Yugoslav civil war. She is a freelance journalist and playwright based in Vancouver.