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G-8 Meetings Continues Following Bombings By Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire EDINBURG, Scotland — After a set of coordinated bombings of the London transit system this morning, leaders from the Group of Eight nations expressed determination to press on with their annual summit in Scotland. Ironically, this meeting's agenda had placed less emphasis on terrorism and WMD proliferation concerns than it had in the past three years (see GSN, July 6). Explosions on three London subway trains, plus an additional blast on a double-decker tourist bus, brought the city's public transportation grid to a halt this morning shortly before 9 a.m., according to a briefing Home Secretary Charles Clarke delivered to the House of Commons early this afternoon. The entire subway network has been closed at least for the rest of the day, as have many bus routes and train service to London's airports, Clark said. Although emergency personnel were seen donning chemical response suits, there have been no reports that the blasts involved any unconventional weapons. Media reports at press time stated that at least 40 people had been killed and 350 injured, with the count expected to increase as rescue efforts continue underground this afternoon. Looking grim and shaken, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the bombings “barbaric” and said it was no coincidence the blasts occurred today. “Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack, or a series of terrorist attacks, it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G-8,” he told summit reporters at noon in Gleneagles, Scotland, about 50 miles from Edinburgh. “It is important, however, that those engaged in terrorism realize 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 on the world. Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilized nations throughout the world,” Blair added. Blair said he would return to London this afternoon, but the G-8 leaders would continue their discussions. The G-8 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. “Each of the countries round that table have some experience of the effects of terrorism and all the leaders, as they will indicate a little bit later, share our complete resolution to defeat this terrorism,” Blair said. “It is the will of all the leaders at the G-8, however, that the meeting should continue in my absence, that we should continue to discuss the issues that we were going to discuss, and reach the conclusions which we were going to reach.” Speaking an hour later, this time flanked by all the G-8 leaders, Blair read a joint statement. “Today's bombings will not weaken in any way our resolve to uphold the most deeply held principles of our societies and to defeat those who would impose their fanaticism and extremism on all of us. We shall prevail. They shall not,” he said. The summit's major discussions had been expected to focus on African debt relief and climate change measures, although quieter talks were planned for improving joint efforts to reduce the risks of weapons of mass destruction falling into terrorist hands. Those security talks were scheduled mostly for this afternoon, according to official briefings prior to the summit, but today's bombings could reprioritize the meeting's security agenda. Nonproliferation experts had hoped that Russia and the United States might resolve a legal dispute that has threatened to stall a wide range of U.S.-funded efforts to secure and dismantle WMD materials in Russia. The dispute has already slowed two programs to give civilian employment to former Soviet weapons scientists and to assist in reducing Russian stocks of weapon-grade plutonium. The consequences of terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction would be much greater than today's bombing casualties, said Leonard Spector, head of the Washington office of the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies. “Seeing the television images today brought home to me how this episode could have been much worse if these others dimensions had been present,” he said. “It would have been much worse if a nuclear weapon had been used.” Spector did not, however, call for the G-8 nations to dramatically alter their public agenda. “It may be that the behind-the-scenes work on things such as U.S.-Russian nonproliferation talks or discussion on Iran are making important progress,” he said. “There are a lot of other pressures as well,” on the G-8 leaders, Spector said, and “as long as nonproliferation remains on the active agenda, it doesn't need to receive publicity.” The G-8 attention on poverty in Africa also has security implications, he said. “To alleviate terrorism you have to go back to some of the causes, such as poverty and the ideology of the have-nots," Spector said. “We need to continue this mission as a way of protecting ourselves in the end. Africa has not been the hotbed of terrorism, but it's been part of the larger picture.” Scottish Security Gleneagles and major Scottish cities have been under extreme security this week as the summit approached and antiglobalization protesters tried to disrupt the meeting. In Edinburgh, however, security appeared to lighten today as authorities reopened some roadways and reduced police presence on the streets. One bus driver said no additional security measures had been imposed today following the London blasts. “You'd expect some sort of emergency protocol, but I don't believe we have anything,” said the driver who asked not to be named. Authorities “think it's London, they're not concerned about here,” he added.
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