Could London's attacks have been worse?

So far, approx 50 dead with over 700 injured. Such a horrible number of innocent lives destroyed by cowards with no faces. In light of this horrible display of violence, could we assume that the damage that was done was intended to be far greater?

After 9/11 had tallied the number of dead victims, I was actually surprised that the death count was so low considering the # of potential deaths that could have occurred. I would imagine that the intended number of victims was supposed to be higher on that horrible day given the magnitude of the applied destruction.

Now that I see a few of the details of Londons attack I begin to wonder the same. The underground, one of the busiest places to be in London, especially during that time of day, would have had the potential for so much more destruction, IMO. Why didn't it? How did so many people survive what was probably inteded to be a much more higher victim count?

Please know that I beleive that any amount of life loss is too much, but I just can't help imagining that it could have been (or should have been in the eyes of the terrorists) much higher.

May God's grace and peace be with the victims and their families.

I've only heard that the device contained about 10 lbs of explosive charge, not what it was.
I would imagine that such a weight of C4, would cause much more damage than blackpowder.
Any bomb-squad experts out there to add details?

Its not over, no way is that it. It was far too small and (not to be harsh, I am devastated by this) not very effective. If it was terrorists, they are capable of more than this.

Though I believe there is a hidden agenda to these bombings, maybe conspiracy related.

Sorry to sound like an insane conspiracy nut, but hey, thats why im here.

Yes, the type of explosives would play a big part in the damage, but I also think that targeting such a highly populated place was strategic for causing a high amt of life loss. Like I said before, 1 is too much, but I honestly feel that 50 was not the target number for the people who did this. I'd think they'd feel that it was too low.

I am glad to see others thoughts on this. Thank God this wasn't any worse than it was. However, I can't help but wonder why this seems a bit low key for these guys. I think there had to be more planned that did not take place. AQ terrorist do things big. Just seems a little strange to me. Maybe conspiracy, Olympic announcement and G8, or someone other than AQ but giving them credit.

Please don't think I am downplaying what happened to our friends yesterday, It is horrific. No one should ever have to live through it. I am a little frustrated though. In the days after 9/11 we saw all this outpouring of support from them. Where is the outpouring of support for them from us? Maybe I am blind, but I just don't see it.

The end of the day, Here in London we had expected an Attack at some point, Its something i believe we have always had it in the back of our minds,


And really we have had to deal with this kind of thing for the last 60 years, so all in all as people we are always aware,

The people on the trains remained as calm as they could and took precausions to get them selfs out, people worked together to help each other with injurys and see to the most needed first, im sure that alone has saved a few lifes.

Originally posted by Zanzibar
Its not over, no way is that it. It was far too small...

you could be right...i would stay away from the british grand prix this weekend as a precaution.

Originally posted by FuGGer

Originally posted by Zanzibar
Its not over, no way is that it. It was far too small...

you could be right...i would stay away from the british grand prix this weekend as a precaution.

lol stay away from the british grand prix. Now you're letting terrorists influence your decision. I guess some people enjoy the comfort of living in fear always expecting the worst.

50 deaths, albeit the number appears low; the damage was inflicted merely to convey a message. The whole world was standing by to eliminate poverty in Africa, and this small but effective incident, effective in the way that it really fueled some of the Ats'ers here in support of a "war", was able to make terrorism make its way onto the agenda.

Why was the Israel embassy the only people informed? The obvious action would have been to dispatch security personel to the scene.

This obviously appears to be an Isreal' agenda, as it helps them continue a pointless war, but on the other hand it was an Isreali who came out and said that the Brit police warned Israel of an attack several minutes before the bombings.

This mess will take a few weeks to clear up in figuring out who was behind such attacks, but until then one can only wait. Those impatient ones on ATS can only point fingers and direct blame elsewhere.

I personally think that Londeners are safe for the time being. I agree with the above posts that this could have been on a much grander scale however, I believe that it was just an attention getter.
It took years of orchestrating and pulling off what they managed to do to the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on 9/11.

We have much better measures in place in terms of security and I mean every country is aware and has taken measures so I don't really think it's going to be as easy to pull off destruction of the 9/11 magnitude for some time.

However, because it's relatively easy to move between Italy, France, England etc...I think they will be on the move. It's all about the fear and letting us know they are still here.

I remember after 9/11 for months after we were given warnings about staying away from large crowded places. I live in Minneapolis and we have the Mall of America here and every weekend we would hear on our local news that the MOA was a potential target. It never happened of course it just had everyone jittery.

My heart and prayers go out to the families and friends affected by this cowardly act against our allies. IMHO though, I feel that they are trying to create fear. They want the world to wonder who will be next and for each of us to fear that it wiil be ourselves that will be the next target.

They don't care about the lives lost. To them that is icing on the cake. Their main agenda is to instill fear, hence the name terrorist.

Originally posted by websurfer
lol stay away from the british grand prix. Now you're letting terrorists influence your decision. I guess some people enjoy the comfort of living in fear always expecting the worst...

exercising a little prudence doesnt imply people enjoy the comfort of living in fear always expecting the worst...

two bombs didnt go off and one was a controlled explosion....

This is the worst terrorist attack in British history, Cities are on alert with extra police being drafted in. I live two hours from London and we have armed police around Canterbury Catherdral, including in the grounds and inside.

This is the worst terrorist attack in British history, Cities are on alert with extra police being drafted in. I live two hours from London and we have armed police around Canterbury Catherdral, including in the grounds and inside.

I am so sorry for you all and completely understand how you are feeling.
God Bless

of course is was small, especially in comparison to the madrid bombing and wtc towers. this is blair playing the terror card. he didn't do it, but he did nothing to stop it. just a small attack to make the public scared so he can push the id card and more nonsense will follow. welcome to the 21st century. welcome to the prison planet.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
of course is was small, especially in comparison to the madrid bombing and wtc towers. this is blair playing the terror card. he didn't do it, but he did nothing to stop it. just a small attack to make the public scared so he can push the id card and more nonsense will follow. welcome to the 21st century. welcome to the prison planet.

of course he didnt stop it...

he knew nothing about it at all..

Small scale attack? its the biggest we have ever seen. IRA never done multiple attacks at once

To echo some of the sentiments above, i would hazard a guess that there is more to come. I sincerely hope not, but there is always the chance.

All airports and seaports have been put on high alert. All Army barracks are on a high state of alert. This i know first hand, my son has just had his leave canceled until further notice. The alert has hit his camp.
There is also talk of the armed forces currently in the UK being deployed to all the air and sea ports to enhance security.

This has been a major incident, but with limited casualties (thank God), but i do think that this has been a warm up so to speak.

Vigilance is going to be paramount in all cities and towns.

Could have been much worse.

An hour earlier would have been full rush-hour, NBC element to the devices would have tripled the chaos, the 4th bomb luckily wasn't detonated on a deep Tube line. Luckily 2 bombs went off on the Circle line (not deep) AN Other line and the damage would have been much much worse.

All is calm & determined here - hoping for a riot-free weekend

Let's not dishoner the dead by making claims about what we have no idea. If you have proof that Blair or any other gov't official was involved in this, then please bring it forward. Otherwise, I'd preface such claims with "it is my opinion", rather than claiming this as fact.

Right now, there is only one group stepping up to claim responsibility. Say what you will about who they are and whether they are a legit organization. But until we see real evidnce, let's use a bit of decorum.

I think that beyond the impact of the explosions and the relatively low fatality count, it is important to consider the timing. Many have contended that this event was timed to "send a message to the G8 leaders" or that it was timed to give London a black-eye immediately after getting word that the city would host the 2012 Olympics. I do not agree. I believe, as I have contended many times, that this attack's timing (much like the timing of other events) was a matter of opportunity and planning in order to ensure the greatest operational success.

I have read that London's police force was dramatically scaled back in recent days as a result of having to protect the leaders at G8 almost 500 miles away. With all of those police officers out of the city, the chance of executing successful attacks increased greatly.

On top of my guess that the attackers used this small window of opportunity to carry out the attacks, I find it a bit odd that the U.S. immediately ratcheted up their security on trains following the London attacks. It would make sense to imagine that the attackers hit London because a unique sitiuation existed which allowed them to pull off their attacks without much police supervision. No such opportunity is in place in the U.S. currently, but we threw police at the "problem" as if we were trying to tell the world that we are on top of terrorism. I belive the case is far different. It seems that the U.S. only has the capability to act effectively in a reactive, not proactive, manner with respect to terrorism. With such a stance in mind, I look to the U.S. to eventually back off on the threat level to trains (about a month before the color changes back to yellow). Not long after that time I wonder about a major public event in the U.S. which concentrates all attention away from the site of the next attack.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what kind of event could significantly gather U.S. police officer's focus to allow for a similar opportunity? That's the event to fear.

The mayor of London Ken Livingston said this has nothing to do with the Olympics because they laughed of the possiblity of someone placing bombs and having timers to go off 18 hours later...