The Guardian

IN THE FACE OF DANGER The terror of the past was ultimately political. It was a means to an end. We could either defeat it, submit to it or negotiate with it. Terror like yesterday’s is more elusive and less formal. It is not a movement or an army in any traditional sense. Its sense of itself is apocalyptic rather than political. Its demands are therefore difficult to meet, even if negotiation was either practicable or acceptable. Fighting this kind of terrorism therefore calls for a permanent combination of smart strategies – the protection and security of communities and societies that are its potential victims alongside a recognition of the need to drain what can be drained from the reservoir of grievances from which the terrorists draw strength.

Yesterday was a dark day, when infamous acts were carried out by dangerous people. The killers, if they are still alive, must be brought to justice and we have no alternative but to keep our guard up against the likelihood that there are others plotting to repeat the assaults. Mr Blair was right to insist that our determination to defend our values and our way of life should be indomitable. That certainly means implacability in the face of the direct threat from the terrorist enemy. It means keen policing and long-term intelligence work. But it also involves trying to understand why people are drawn to commit such infamous and evil deeds, not merely tightening security to prevent them from happening again. And it means sticking resolutely to all the values that make an open society so worth living in, including tolerance and civil liberty. In the end, as Mr Bush and Mr Blair each said, it is the contrast that counts. This is a conflict of values. But it is not just the contrast between the hate of the terrorists and the labours of the world leaders that will turn the tide. It is the contrast between the anger of the terrorists and the decency of ordinary people, as Londoners so powerfully showed yesterday.

***

Daily Mail

BRITISH COURAGE WILL DEFEAT TERROR The hardest part of coming to terms with what happened in London yesterday is to recognise that it represents part of our future.

In so many respects, our lives are incomparably safer and more comfortable than those of our grandparents’ generation, whose wartime sacrifices we shall commemorate this weekend.

Consider, for instance, the service at the Guards’ Chapel near Buckingham Palace on June 18, 1944 where a V1 flying bomb killed 119 of the congregation in a single blast.

Yesterday’s attacks on London were dreadful, but they were a price we must pay for today’s terror. We must resist, because we have no choice. Each generation faces different challenges. Our ancestors lived with plague, poverty, great wars and natural disasters. We must find the courage to live with Al Qaeda.

We are not required to fly Spitfires or take up rifles, but simply to continue going to work, shopping, living our daily lives in a fashion that provokes Osama Bin Laden’s demented followers to terrorise us. If London’s streets are half-empty today, the terrorists will rejoice, because we will show our fear of them.

If once again pubs and restaurants are thronged, trains crammed, streets gridlocked with traffic, then we shall be doing our bit by carrying on, as surely as our parents and grandparents did theirs.

The terrorists rained on our parade yesterday, by broadcasting death and destruction amid a host of ordinary people overjoyed about London being chosen to host the 2012 Olympics.

We must bear the pain, and more to come, because if we falter before such enemies and such a threat we would show ourselves unworthy descendants of our forefathers, who bore so much more.

***

The Times

REVULSION AND RESOLVE There may be a few people inclined to make a link between the deaths in London and the intervention in Iraq. This is utterly flawed thinking. Al-Qaeda and its subsidiary branches began their sadistic campaign more than a decade ago and they did not require the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Baghdad as an extra incentive. London was not targeted be cause British troops are in Iraq or because of Tony Blair’s alliance with the Bush White House. Rather, London was attacked because these extremists want to ignite a “holy war” between themselves and democratic societies. …

Mr Blair declared forcefully yesterday that “those engaged in terrorism” should “realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism throughout the world”. This is a sentiment that will be endorsed throughout Britain. Despite the shock, horror and outrage, the calm shown in London was exemplary. Ordinary life may be inconvenienced by the spectre of terror, yet terrorism will not force free societies to abandon their fundamental features. An attack was inevitable. The casualties were dreadful. The terrorists have only strengthened the resolve of Britain and its people.