Terrorism Comes to London

We need to pray for our friends and allies in Britain:

A series of explosions struck London's public transportation system Thursday in what Prime Minister Tony Blair (search) called a coordinated series of "barbaric" terrorist attacks, most likely to coincide with the opening of the G-8 summit in nearby Scotland.

After several hours during which public officials cautioned against reaching conclusions about what caused at least seven blasts on subways and buses, Blair gave a brief televised address where he concluded it was a terrorist action.

"It's 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 and a desire to impose extremism on the world," an emotional Blair told the world.

"Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilizations in the world."

At last count more than 45 have been killed and 1,000 hurt. Anyone who doubts that we're in a war got a wake-up call today.

Why was London chosen?

Recent intelligence indicated that London was considered a prime target for Islamic extremists, in part because Al Qaeda was having difficulty getting people into the United States, the official said.

Security was stepped up in the nation's capital, with bomb-sniffing dogs and armed police officers patrolling subways and buses — ridden by about 1.2 million people a day — and looking for anything suspicious. Passengers were being urged to report any suspicious activity.

I'll be in Washington D.C. starting tomorrow through Wednesday. Looks like we're going to see the Homeland Security Department in action.

In the meantime, we're all Brits now.