More bombings in Istanbul

[zakur]

At Least 25 Dead in New Istanbul Bombings (http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=A6E00F15-1C68-409F-AB0943C03F975AC9)

Bomb blasts have hit the British consulate and a London-based bank in Istanbul, Turkey, and officials say at least 25 people have been killed and nearly 400 injured.

Reports in Istanbul say the British consul-general in Istanbul is missing and may may be among the dead, along with other consulate employees. The Associated Press quotes the Istanbul governor as saying attackers blew up two pickup truck carrying explosives. One blast was outside the consulate and the other seriously damaged a high-rise building that housed the offices of London-based bank HSBC.
Bush, Blair Defiant as Turkey Blasts Dominate Visit (http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/reuters20031120_165.html)

[Tony]

The religion of peace strikes again.

[Tmy]

Oh Istanbul, why cant you be more like Constantinople.

[DanishDynamite]

So far, 27 dead and 450 injured. :(

Yes, the War on Terror is making real headway.

[Jon_in_london]

Including the British Consular General.

The Union Jack is still flying though ;)

Unfortunately, as usual, the majority of the dead and maimed are the locals (25 out of 27) who were just going about their daily business.

[Nikk]

Originally posted by Jon_in_london
Including the British Consular General.

The Union Jack is still flying though ;)

Unfortunately, as usual, the majority of the dead and maimed are the locals (25 out of 27) who were just going about their daily business.

Ah but the locals are, or are assumed to be, moderate and more or less secular muslims, so I suppose they are enemies as well.

Al Q are having a "good" week; so far they've got Jews, Turks and Brits if they can get some Yanks and Ozzies they'll have the full set.

Oh and I note that there has been a suicide bombing in Kirkuk aimed at the PUK offices which got some schoolgirls instead.

[a_unique_person]

Once again this reminds me of the extremes of the IRA. Nothing is guaranteed to lose you supporters quicker than making people realise that all you want is blood, and you aren't really fighting for a cause as you claim.

[Ralph]

Originally posted by DanishDynamite
So far, 27 dead and 450 injured. :(

Yes, the War on Terror is making real headway.

And how do you know the death toll wouldn't be far higher if we'd tried dealing with the terrorists your way??..(whatever that might be).


What would you suggest be done to improve things???.......

[HarryKeogh]

the terrorists must be disappointed that every major news outlet has reduced the death (or more accurately,murder) of over 2 dozen people to a minor event.

apparently the legal problems of an oddball singer are of much greater importance today.

[DaChew]

Let's see, the good people of Turkey, in a fine display of democracy, urge their government to not allow the U.S. and British forces to use NATO bases as the jumping off point for a northern front in Iraq. Of course, the Turkish government listens to the will of the people and denies the use of those bases. Their payback for this courtesy to their Muslim brothers? They get bombed anyway.

Looks like a lesson hard learned to me.

[aerocontrols]

Originally posted by Nikk
Ah but the locals are, or are assumed to be, moderate and more or less secular muslims, so I suppose they are enemies as well.

The word the Al Qaeda types use is munafiq (http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/glossary/term.MUNAFIQ.html).

MattJ

[Tmy]

Originally posted by DaChew
Of course, the Turkish government listens to the will of the people and denies the use of those bases.

Isnt the govt supposed to listen to the will of the people.

[aerocontrols]

Originally posted by Tmy
Isnt the govt supposed to listen to the will of the people.

'governments should listen to the will of the people'

vs.

'leaders should lead'


I'm sure if you consider it long enough, you will find examples where both occurred, leaders following the will of the people (for both good and ill) as well as leaders taking action that the people generally disapproved of (for both good and ill).

MattJ

[shuize]

Originally posted by DaChew
Let's see, the good people of Turkey, in a fine display of democracy, urge their government to not allow the U.S. and British forces to use NATO bases as the jumping off point for a northern front in Iraq. Of course, the Turkish government listens to the will of the people and denies the use of those bases. Their payback for this courtesy to their Muslim brothers? They get bombed anyway.

Looks like a lesson hard learned to me.

Exactly. Of course had Turkey allowed the use of the bases and then suffered from the same terrorist bombings, well, that would have obviously been the fault of the U.S.

The continued terrorism against Muslims around the world seems to be a really stupid thing for Al Quaeda to be doing. If this keeps up, some of their fellow Muslims just might realize that the U.S. and Isreal aren't really isn't responsible for every evil since the dawn of history. An unlikely scenario to be sure. But one can only hope.

[Mike B.]

Originally posted by shuize


Exactly. Of course had Turkey allowed the use of the bases and then suffered from the same terrorist bombings, well, that would have obviously been the fault of the U.S.



Thank you.
This is the point I was making in another thread.

Had the bases been allowed to be used, the left on this board would say well obviously the "real" reason they did this is the bases.

This shows how wrong-headed all of these attempts to show the "real" reason for terrorism.

[Supercharts]

This path will lead to the military taking over in Turkey. The military is in NATO and wants Turkey to join the ECM in 2006. They protect the secularization of Turkey and have done so since Ataturk.
Maybe by the end of the year the military will crack down and take over. We'll see.

[Ed]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
Once again this reminds me of the extremes of the IRA. Nothing is guaranteed to lose you supporters quicker than making people realise that all you want is blood, and you aren't really fighting for a cause as you claim.


Really?

[Graham]

Originally posted by Ed



Really?

No.

[Supercharts]

By CRAIG S. SMITH The New York Times

"Turkey, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's only Muslim member, has carefully cultivated and jealously guarded a European-style secular political culture that is crucial to the American program to send pro-Western values percolating through the tribal and theocratic grid of the Middle East. "
***
"Turkey was the first among Muslim nations to recognize Israel and has developed extensive ties with it since then. It has been a model NATO (news - web sites) member and has tried hard in recent years to win the favor of the European Union (news - web sites), which Turkey wants to join."
***
"Turkish troops appeared briefly Thursday on highways and alongside the police, an ominous sign to some. The military has seized power three times from 1960 to 1980 and forced out the Islamist-oriented government of Necmettin Erbakan, Mr. Erdogan's onetime mentor, in 1997."
Emphasis mine

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=68&e=10&u=/nyt/20031121/ts_nyt/attacksonturkeytrytoseverabridgebetweenislamandwes t

[Nikk]

Originally posted by Mike B.


Thank you.
This is the point I was making in another thread.

Had the bases been allowed to be used,

........a supposition; Which they weren't

the left on this board

.........you need to establish that there is a unitary left on this board

would say

.........a supposition; you are just making this up.

well obviously the "real" reason they did this is the bases.

.........or they might have said something very different.

This shows how wrong-headed all of these attempts to show the "real" reason for terrorism.

Not an impressive attempt at a logical argument.