Palestinian National Council Member Mamoun Tamimi on the London Bombings from MEMRI:
The following are excerpts from an Al-Jazeera television interview on the London bombings, with Palestinian National Council member Mamoun Al-Tamimi…The interview aired on July 12, 2005 on Al-Jazeera TV.
Host: We heard the British Home Secretary say that what happened in London has nothing whatsoever to do with the British policies or Iraq. What do you have to say to him?
Al-Tamimi: “Obviously, he wants to defend himself, because this operation will bring down the government. Blair will fall just like Aznar did. When Spain was attacked, Aznar immediately tried to pin it on ETA and the Basques. Then it turned out that Al-Qaeda was behind the attack, and he immediately lost the elections. Blair will follow Aznar. This is certain. Therefore they want to cover up…
“First of all, they prevented the media from filming the attacks. The attacks were enormous, a thousand times greater than what was reported. Why did they do this? Because of the fear that overcame the British people and government, and because they know that they are paying a steep price for the mess Blair got them into. They understood that this is because they treat the Arabs and Muslims with disdain and spill their blood. They understood that this is war. In war, you hit and get hit. That’s the equation. It is just like Albright said when she was asked whether two million Iraqis were killed because of the decade-long siege on Iraq. She responded, ‘That’s war.’
“Since this war is ongoing, the people you strike have the right to strike back at you, in your home, your country, anywhere. That’s the equation.”
Host: When Spain suffered a terrorist attack, it immediately withdrew its forces from Iraq…
Al-Tamimi: “As for Britain’s humanism, Winston Churchill once said: ‘Defend freedom, for it is the reason for our existence.’ After Hitler’s fall in Germany, Winston Churchill ordered the army and the air force to continue bombing. The bombings continued three weeks after Hitler’s fall, and military historians say that the casualties sustained by Germany after Hitler’s fall were greater than the casualties from the war. Germany had 25 million casualties, and in Britain there were 18 million dead. In other words, Britain totally annihilated Germany after Hitler’s fall…
Al-Tamimi: “Britain caused infinite destruction to the Iraqi people. Now that the political and social map of Iraq has been completed, there will be no civil society there. He said that there was no civil society in the days of Saddam. Is there civil society now in Iraq?!
Al-Tamimi: “I say that people who blow themselves up… There are already dozens of them. If you say that they are cowards, then you are a mental pervert. They love death like that man loves life. Who made them love death? Britain and the U.S. with their actions. And the American and British peoples will pay the price if they don’t put an end to these governments.”