Carnage in London

The London bombs attacks a week ago today were horrific, tragic and indiscrminate. No reasonable person can condone an attack where the civilian population was the primary target and where more than fifty people were slaughtered. The attacks have shocked people in London and around the world but they didn't come as a total surprise. The world has become a much less secure place since the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, violence has increased and ordinary people all over the world are the main victims.

At this time also we should bear in mind that terrible carnage has been inlicted upon civilan populations in various parts of the world, not least in Iraq itself. To date the body count in Iraq stands at 100,000 since the invasion in March 2003.

As stated by the mayor of London Ken Livingstone, this wasn't an attack on the rich and powerful, but rather on ordinary working class people. Most of these people opposed the war in Iraq.

There should be no knee-jerk reactions to the horrific events in London, which would only exacerbate the global tensions which already exist or which would lead to the persecution of Muslims or other minority communities in Britain.