# 'London bomber' video aired on TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 1, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636 "2005-09-01T21:18:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/1 "2005-09-01T21:18:19Z")
[A video of a man claiming to be one of the four bombers behind the 7 July Tube attacks which killed 52 people has been shown on Arab TV.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4206708.stm) Apparently it is all our fault. > [@](#): > > He said the public was responsible for the atrocities perpetuated against his “people” across the world because they supported democratically elected governments who carried them out. > [@](#): > > "Until you stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people we will not stop this fight. > > “We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation.” Where this is going on he doesn’t say. He also said the attacks will continue. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/2 "2005-09-01T22:22:35Z")
What’s the debate here? ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/3 "2005-09-01T22:27:30Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > What’s the debate here? Do his statements have any validity? Will the attacks continue, and if so where? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/4 "2005-09-01T22:48:42Z")
He was a muslim. There are many muslims across the world suffering due to the actions of the British government. The British government represents the British people. Therefore, the British people are responsible for muslims suffering across the world. There will be more attacks, but not for a while. Canada or Italy may be next. ---
**Author:** ![Aagramn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Aagramn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aagramn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/5 "2005-09-01T22:49:42Z")
Here is the complete text from the video: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4206800.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4206800.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/6 "2005-09-02T01:02:44Z")
London bomber said: > [@](#): > > I’m going to keep this short and to the point because it’s all been said before by far more eloquent people than me. > > And our words have no impact upon you, Well shut the fuck up then. Oh you’re going to speak anyway. Darn, you got my hopes up there for a minute. > [@](#): > > I’m sure by now the media’s painted a suitable picture of me, this predictable propaganda machine will naturally try to put a spin on things to suit the government and to scare the masses into conforming to their power and wealth-obsessed agendas. Eh? What do you care what the media thinks? And aren’t _you_ trying to “scare the masses into conforming to your agenda”? > [@](#): > > I and thousands like me are forsaking everything for what we believe. No you’re not, you’re not forsaking anything. You’re entering paradise. > [@](#): > > Our driving motivation doesn’t come from tangible commodities that this world has to offer. Y’know, I know lots of muslims and I never met a bunch of people more into tangible commodities. They all have (and are insanely proud of) the latest tiny phones to come on the market and laptop/dvd players and other gadjets. I, on the other hand, am not a muslim and I have absolutely no tangible commodities at all, and don’t want any. OK I own a prehistoric phone that someone gave me for free but I never use it. I don’t even own this computer I’m typing on. I don’t actually own anything except a few shitty clothes and a bike I’ve had since Pennyfarthing days. I don’t want anything either - I hate possessions, they just tie you down. So it seems that one’s religion is not a good indicator of whether you’re into “tangible commodities”. > [@](#): > > Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate atrocities against my people all over the world. So do your unelected dictatorial governments. So it would seem that the democratic nature of such governments or otherwise is not really a factor. And anyway, stop trying to link all “democratically elected governments” together and pretend they are all acting as one force. The “democratically elected government” in Russia may be oppressing the Chechens but that’s got fuck all to do with the “democratically elected government” of, say, Belgium. Or even the one in America. Go and do a degree in International Politics and History and come back when you know something about it, oh sorry you can’t. > [@](#): > > And your support of them makes you directly responsible, What? Even if I didn’t vote for them? What do you want me to do - start a revolution just because the party I didn’t vote for got in this time round? > [@](#): > > Until we feel security, you will be our targets. And until you stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people we will not stop this fight. I haven’t bombed, gassed, imprisoned or tortured anyone. Although I’d like to have done all four to you. And anyway, who has my government gassed recently? Or indeed tortured (apart from some extremely mild cases of mistreatment in prison). You wanna see torture you should head over to have a look at some of the governments in the muslim world. That’s why we won’t send any of the radical preachers back there - because they’d be tortured. > [@](#): > > We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation. No _you_ are at war, we just think you’re a criminal (and an idiot). If we were really at war, then you’d know about it. If we went to war with you on the same terms as you are at war with us then presumably you would think it would be ok for us to attack civilians, since that’s what you do. We _could_ say that all muslims are guilty because they support the ideology that you identify with, and then kill them. This is exactly the same argument you use regarding “democratic governments” and our support for them. Ah who cares, they don’t listen anyway. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/7 "2005-09-02T01:12:01Z")
I watched the video a short while ago, or at least the portion of it the BBC chose to show…and I find it very disconcerting. We’re familiar with these videos, but to see one where you don’t need subtitles or a translation is, for most of us, a new experience. What’s more, he seemed just as he was desribed by the people who knew him: an ordinary guy, who had somehow picked up some very strange views, which had been nurtured and cultivated by others. This wasn’t a video of a battle-hardened warrior. Whatever it is, it’s not that. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/8 "2005-09-02T08:33:23Z")
It’s the self-important, self-centred rant of a miserable little fart, whose life was so insignificant and empty that he threw it away. His identification with being an “oppressed muslim” is the only thing that validated him. Despite living in a country where the standard of living in the _prisons_ is higher than the global average, he liked to think of himself as part of an oppressed brotherhood. That way he could blame every little percieved inadequacy in his life on his “oppressors”. The tube bombers didn’t have to kill themselves. They could have carried out their attack the way the police originally thought they did - drop and run. These pricks _wanted_ to die. It made them feel important. Thinking about people watching his video after his death was probably the greatest joy in the little skidmark’s life. “I and thousands like me have forsaken everything for what we believe.” Get real. You forsook nothing, because you had nothing. You were a walking waste of volume, a misanthropic abdicator of responsibility. Thousands like you? Not here, pal. It took _years_ for a few dismal little losers like you with crude home-made explosives to cause less mayhem than a good motorway pile-up, and you didn’t even attempt to get away with it alive! A true warrior would be disgusted. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/london-bomber-video-aired-on-tv/319636/9 "2005-09-02T08:35:37Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I watched the video a short while ago, or at least the portion of it the BBC chose to show…and I find it very disconcerting. We’re familiar with these videos, but to see one where you don’t need subtitles or a translation is, for most of us, a new experience. What’s more, he seemed just as he was desribed by the people who knew him: an ordinary guy, who had somehow picked up some very strange views, which had been nurtured and cultivated by others. This wasn’t a video of a battle-hardened warrior. Whatever it is, it’s not that. Yeah, that’s what unsettled me the most… the fact that you’re hearing these words in a West Yorkshire accent from a man who worked with underprivillaged kids. ☹