Death and taxes



At least that used to be the only two things that pessimists said were inevitable in this life. Now, according to many of those who are charged with our safety, so is a successfull major attack on the UK. Gee, so nice to know all the pain and suffering we've endured and caused in Iraq to help free the world of the terrorist threat (aren't we so utterly selfless?) was worth it to secure a more stable and safer world... The people in Iraq are left with a chaotic mess with the threat of a religious/civil war hanging over their heads instead of the much-vaunted liberation Bush and Blair promised and - imagine this - we're not any safer, boys and girls. In fact they're telling us to pretty much expect carnage on a British street soon.



As with almost every conflict in history both side are full of it. The Muslim fundamentalists are fucking nutters, no doubt about it. Our poltiicians are duplcitous, lying fiends who use the carnage as a way to increase their own power, keep us civilains in line and don't get the bitter irony of supposedly fighting those who wage violence against civilians by bombing the hell out of another group of civilians... And what the smegging hell had Iraq to do with Bin-Liner and his psychotic shagwits anyway? If anything we gave the fundamentalist a huge opening in Iraq and just made ourselves a bigger target. Oops. If only, in all conflicts, we could get the leaders of both groups together. No, not to talk or negotiate - thrown the C*nts into a pit and make THEM fight it out to the death and leave the civilians around the world out of it for once. Think Bush would be more careful about military action if he had to fly the bomber over hostile terrain? Well, we already know the answer to that, we can look at his military record (or lack of it) from Vietnam... And as for Osam, the devout man on a religious crusade against the infidels... Well, for a man so committed to the Cause I haven't seent hat mad-bearded twat strapping on some plastic explosve and walking into an Israeli diner or European trian station (or other viable military target). Happy to encourage lots of young, stupid guys to do it though... So fuck it, put htem all in a big pit, make them fight to the death. Then afterwards fill the pit in with concrete, regardless of who wins - we're better off without them all.



And dreadful as Madrid was you just know that it was good for someone - our politicians. They can browbeat the wavering elements of Europe and say, look they are going to go after us all. Today's news that France is a target confirms its, stop wavering and get macho with me and my cowboy mate says Tony, donning a stetson and playing a the Alamo. Well, guess what happened at the Alamo, twatface? I'm sure some conspiracy pages are already alleging the CIA set up the whole thing to get the Europeans in line - I mean a bomb in Madrid instead of London? A bomb on mainland Europe is more effective at scaring the wavering Euros; after all they all expect a bomb in London, don't they?



However, once again Bush and Blair send mixed signals. We all have to be ever so tough and keep going for freedom and safety etc, etc. And yet they are also telling us no matter how hard we try a lot of innocent citizens are going to be minced. Inspired.



It does have an affect though - just this week a colleague talked about how she sometimes thinks she should work closer to her home outside of Edinburgh, pondering where they would strike if they hit the city. The Castle? The new parliament? Would anyone notice if they hit the parliament? It would just be even more over-budget and over-schedule, something we're used to - no bugger would pay any attention! It does make me wonder - if I were a terrorist and everyone is geared up for a strike on London, wouldn't I hit somewhere else? Some other British town or city, for surprise, increased shock and to show that nowhere was safe? After all the IRA didn't hesitate to blow the hell out of a Manchester shopping centre, did they? Isn't this what they want? That we're all going to be thinking this way all the time? What's in that gap-year student's huge rucksack on the crowded train? Wasn't that a big box that Asian looking bloke just shoved into a bin on Princes Street? Is my cat getting fat or has some mad fundamentalist hidden some semxtex under her fur to get me? Well, maybe it is inevitable, but I have enough paranoia in my life as it is and I ain't changing my life for these bastards. I will, in my patriotic fervour, continue to go to my local pub and drink fearlessly and will not let the possibility of a booby-trapped ale pump stop me.



The only good thing to come from this was not only the massive demonstrations from the people of Spain but also today of ordinary Muslim folk in Morocco, praying for those killed and as horrifed as the rest of us at humanity's seemingly eternal capacity to act inhumanly.