Will England be more like post-9/11 USA or Spain?

[CoffeeCat]

I'm wondering how the British people will handle this awful bombing?

Will they become sheeple and stand in a mystified stupor as their leader convinces them that they need to give up freedoms, sign on to their own "Patriot Act" and initiate wars with Middle East countries?

OR...will the British people, like the Spanish people, see that Bush's war on terror is only stoking the fires and cultivating a more unsafe world?

Will the Brits--out of disgust and with clear minds--demand less involvement in Bush's illegal, disgusting, evil war? Will they revolt like the Spanish people did?

Or in a state of fearful disbelief--will they become more impressionable (like many Americans post 9/11) and buy Junior's lies and back Blair and their country's involvement in Iraq?

[coloradodem2005]

1. I hope Spain.

[roguevalley]

2. Spain, I hope. Blair didn't protect them. I would be after him with a

pitch fork if I lived there.

[stepnw1f]

3. I Believe Their Will Be Hell To Pay

People are pissed and fed up with the Right Wing babble. People are starting to blame the current situation on the Right Wing, where it rightfully belongs.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. More like Spain. Blair will be toppled. I refuse to believe that the

British are as gullible as the Americans were after 9/11.
AND their press does not seem to be as much of a wholly-owned tool of the government

[PretzelWarrior]

5. the book 1984 was inspired by British govmt behavior

and considering the surveillance in London's core and the restrictions on traffic, etc. I would say they are more likely to be more restrictive than before.

Seems Blair is using many events culminating together to increase British power and prestige around the world so I'm sure they will be much less "storm trooper-ish" in their clamp downs.

Bush and Blair. the ultimate good cop/bad cop.

[niallmac]

6. UK, Our Fifty First State

Will fall in line with whatever the U.S. wants. The people it seems are by and large savvy enough to know that this is Bushes war and not theirs but the government short of a populist revolt will tow the Washington DC line. That's my cold hearted Machiavellian assessment. My heart of hearts hopes the UK tells us to piss up a rope.

[Beaver Tail]

7. Spain I hope

Unfortunately the opposition does not have the numbers to call a confidence vote.

[lynne]

8. What does their recent history indicate -

- in consideration of their responses to IRA & WWII bombings?

[WolverineDG]

9. More like London during WWII

Given the dry, dark British humor, I wouldn't be surprised to see signs at damaged tube stations reading "Mind the Gap" in a few weeks.* They're not going to fall down & start praying & blaming the attacks on liberals, Roe v. Wade, the ACLU, feminists, & gays like some people here did.

dg

*based on an earlier post here re: a bombed-out store during the blitz w/a sign that said "you should see our hamburg branch."

[tritsofme]

10. I would assume they will act like Britain always has

They have a long history of terrorist attacks from the IRA over the past 30 years.

[Darkamber]

15. Yes, exactly...Britian has had years of terrorist bombings...

I was going to school in London during the IRA bombings. I remember the Tube getting shut down for bomb alerts and seeing the Band stand blown up and the Royal parade blow up with horses dead in the streets.
Going to a concert in Hyde Park with security check points and all bags checked for bombs. It was very strange for me to see at the time.

They are use to this...the problem is the spin. Blair will want to make it focused on Terrorism and the war in Iraq. I'm just not sure how much the British people will fall for it.

It's not like terrorism is something they haven't dealt with before.

[snickersnee]

11. my hunch is this:

the Brits will react unlike either the US or Spain. London's been bombed before, so I don't think they'll say "7/7 changed everything" and serve up their common sense on a platter. It's not the British Way.

So they won't freak out in either direction. What this WILL do, however, is give Blair political cover while * craps all over him re. Kyoto and other G8 issues. Now that they've been hit directly, Blair can posture as though he's in Iraq or wherever for Britian's sake, not just America's. It's suddenly easier to justify being *'s poodle, and they both benefit from the diversion.

In the long run, assuming there is one, I think they will come to resent America more intensely. Bush is sure to step all over this with his bloody clown feet, maybe call Blair "kemosabe" or something equally maladroit, or use 7/7 as a rhetorical catapult, urging them to greater contributions to the war on Terra. Waxing on about kindred spirits with bonds forged in blood and steel etc etc. That sort of malarkey won't play across the pond, and they already see * for what he is.

[leesa]

12. Spain. I think they have had it with the Bush Crime Family.

I think many of them also have longer memory spans and remember that the UK was about to pull out and so it made no sense for "Al Qaeda" to pull this off.

[theboss]

13. I think they will act like Britain

They are much more used to this than we are. I think there will be some tightening of security back to the IRA days. I think they will probably stay the course in Iraq for now, with a clear eye on an exit strategy. And Blair hangs on.

[CatholicEdHead]

14. That sounds about right

in that they are used to events like this from the IRA. This was bigger than any IRA operation, but it is still the same principle. They have lived under active domestic terrorism for a very, very long time.

[gulliver]

16. Spain. The IRA is white and Christian. This ain't that.

The next "Prime Minister's Questions" is going to be a doozy.