That's right, after all what business was it of ours that the peoples of Afghanistan were living under a repressive theocracy that banned education for young girls, that forced men to grow beards, that instituted a dress code for women straight from the Middle Ages and employed stoning and beating as everyday judical punishment.
What business was it of ours that Iraq was ruled by a tribal minority that prevented all free speach and democracy, that the same ruling elite used torture as an everyday tool of control and over the years murdered hundreds of thousands of its own citizens for no greater crime than wanting elections.

The UK and US had no business in trying to free these people any more than it did wishing to free the peoples of Europe who were living under the Nazis. We should have just ignored them and continued with our nice safe lives.

I say let's close our eyes and ears to others problems and pain and look after number one

I am not sure why so many who might be called "The Left" are still having so much difficulty in understanding why the bombs in London and Madrid and the attacks on New York happended. Those who carried out these attacks are not fighting for a free Iraq or Afghanistan or for an end to the problems in the wider Middle East they are seeking an Islamic world (or their interpretation of it).

Al Quida seeks a Taliban form of world government - is that what you want ?

The world faces a clear choice, Western democratic freedom or Islamic repression

the third? The ballance is made of THREE. People, why for god's sake you forget incorporating Canada? They are the third in a happy alliance that must be taken into analysys. Somebody didn't in vain mention Nikola Tesla ...

We didn't have to invade Iraq and kill thousands of people in order to prevent the atrocities that Sadam Hussain committed. We could have just not put him there in the first place. The US and UK governments have blood on their hands whichever way you look at it. And surely no-one can be naive enough to think that we went to war with Iraq to save the people of Iraq from an evil dictator. We pick and choose who we invade based on furthering the interests of a handful of very very rich men. And every time we go down that route we create a few more terrorists who are driven deep into fanaticism by our terrible terrible acts of imperialism.

Don’t kid yourself,

Living in the real world? Are you having a laugh, we didn’t free these people from anything Iraq suffers more now than it ever did under Saddam, and Afghanistan’s heroin trade is bigger than ever not to mention living in fear from Taliban warriors hell bent on revenge against the Afghani people. Sudan is far worse off than Iraq or Afghanistan but we don’t “free” these people from tyranny, because we can’t get their oil, you may believe that we’re spreading some form of democracy but we're not, were doing what we’ve always done protecting our own self interests at the expense of other people, look at Vietnam, look at Bosnia, we help when it helps us, don’t kid yourself that we’re spreading the good word of democracy.

lives in real world should, by virtue of his/her name be aware that " Osama is still at large and Afghanistan is a lawless mess."(1) - and should remember that the plight of Afghani women suddenly became an issue after the invasion, which was indeed to root out that nasty Mr. Bin Laden .............

S/he should also be aware that despite the fact over 40 Iraqis were slaughtered yesterday (2), the US and UK are planning to withdraw troops in the near future (3)

All of which makes his/her awareness of the "real world" in which s/he lives rather suspect.....

'Alan' has an intimate knowledge of the desires of the "Islamofascists"

"The world faces a clear choice, Western democratic freedom or Islamic repression"

He seems unaware that attacks on, and occupation of other countries will inevitably lead to retaliation.

Here's his "Western democratic freedom" in action:

"Ali Abbas, had gone to a US base to inquire about his missing neighbours. On his third visit, he was arrested without charge, stripped naked, hooded and forced to simulate sex with other prisoners . This was standard procedure. He was beaten on his genitals, electrocuted in the anus, denied water and forced to watch as his food was thrown away. A loaded gun was held to his head to prevent him from screaming in pain as his wrists were bound so tightly that the blood drained from his hands. He was doused in cold water while a fan was held to his body.

"They put on a loud speaker," he told Jamail, "put the speakers on my ears and said, 'Shut up, fuck, fuck, fuck!' He was refused sleep. Shit was wiped on him and dogs were used on him. "Sometimes at night when he read his Koran," said Jamail, "(he) had to hold it in the hallway for light. Soldiers would come by and kick the Holy Koran, and sometimes they would try to piss on it or wipe shit on it." A female soldier told him, "Our aim is to put you in hell . . . These are the orders from our superiors, to turn your lives into hell."(4)

Why would anyone possibly oppose that kind of 'liberation' - In 'Alan's' world there is no conceivable reason they should seek to do so.

(1) http://onlineathens.com/stories/071105/opi_20050711002.shtml
(2) http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5499729.html
(3) http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-07/11/content_3202719.htm
(4) http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=8240

Whilst the reasons why such a horrific attack on the capital must be explored, it is too much to ask that we have some time to grieve?

Yes - I am opposed to the UK/US's "war on terror", which has manifested in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the draconian anti-terrorist legislation passed through parliament post-9/11. However, I was disgusted by George Galloway's political exploitation of Thursday's chaotic situation through a speech made while bodies were still being recovered from various bomb sites.

I agree that these attacks were probably in part made in response to the UK's acts of terror and aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, I also believe that the perpetrators of these attacks in London would have eventually carried out such an attack regardless of our involvement in the Middle East. I say this because the Edgware Road area of London contains a vibrant mix of Middle Eastern and London cultures. People who use the tube system come from all walks of life and places, and people such as myself, who have been vocal against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Therefore, how can we understand the motives of those who are willing to destroy the lives of people who may have opposed the views of the government? Why bring terror to those who may have come from communities which these terrorists often claim to represent? Why attack people who marched against the war in London in February 2003?

Until we know the answers to these questions, laying blame solely with the government's support for Bush's deluded foreign policies in the immediate aftermath of these attacks in the capital, is perhaps untimely.

Blair and Bush may be guilty of many crimes, but they did not plant the bombs in London, terrorist did and we all can and should condemn their crimes without reservation as an evil act that cannot under any circumstances be justified. But terrorists do not operate in a vacuum.

Lets not forget that President Jimmy Carter’s last act was to approve the plan that saw the CIA turn Afghanistan into Russia’s Vietnam, training, arming, an equipping a terrorist army with the help of America’s special forces, MI6 and the SAS, Bin Larden was recruited to bring in volunteers from across the gulf region. And some of his hand picked recruits flow to Scotland to be trained by the SAS (Nice one Mrs Thatcher). Did they really believe that after skinning Russian’s alive and hanging their corpses on meat hooks in butcher shops they would go back home to lead peaceful lives?

When our Governments attacked the training camps they had helped build in Afghanistan we where told Al Quida was not like any other terrorist organisation cut off the head and the serpent would wither and die, but all that happened, as BBC’s Panorama showed on Sunday, was that the organisation dispersed and individuals were encouraged to return home and carry on the Jihad there. Replacing one Bin Larden with hundreds and increasing the risk of terrorism, not decreasing it, as many warned the war would (including our own intelligence services).

Then in Iraq we fought a illegal war on a false prospectus and when the hoped for millitary coup to topple Saddam didn’t happen and the regime collapsed occupied the country creating a magnet for terrorism and recruiting thousands of disaffected people to Al Quida’s cause. Transforming the hundreds of Bin Larden’s into thousands. But as before our leaders knew this as they had been warned by their intelligence services of the terrorist blowback their actions would create.

Al Quida is not a new type of terrorist threat, hell bent on global domination and the destruction of our way of life (like some bad James Bond movie), Like all other terrorists groups it is build on a foundation of legitimate political grievances, has a specific ideological base and clearly articulated set of demands. An end to all western influence in the Muslim world, the liberation of Palestine, the destruction of the state of Israel, an end to the corrupt, pro-western regimes in Saudi and other Arab states and the conservation of Muslim world’s natural resources and their sale at much higher prices than is currently the case to the West.

The only way to defeat terrorism is address the political grievances on which it feeds (and that does not mean giving in to the terrorists), not to entrench them as Bush and Blair have done.

"However, I also believe that the perpetrators of these attacks in London would have eventually carried out such an attack regardless of our involvement in the Middle East. I say this because the Edgware Road area of London contains a vibrant mix of Middle Eastern and London cultures. People who use the tube system come from all walks of life and places, and people such as myself, who have been vocal against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Many of the bomb attacks in Israel have seen Israeli Arabs and foreign workers harmed. That doesn't mean that the bombings are not linked to the occupation of Palestine.

Are you off down the "they're irrational fundamentalists who hate our freedom" track by any chance?