Stiff Upper Lip

What are the British made of? This is the fundamental question which must be answered to evaluate the likely fallout from the London bombings yesterday. Compare the response to 9/11 among Americans (blue-staters especially) with that of the Spanish after their bombings. The U.S. responded by circling wagons, approving of their president, and being resolved that we would not be cowed by violence. There is a fundamental unwillingness to be bullied deep in the American psyche.

Not so in Spain. The populace took one look at the carnage caused by terrorists in Madrid, and decided that it wasn't worth the cost to remain in Iraq. This, of course, gave power and confidence to the terrorists, who know now that some countries, at least, can be scared off with just a single bloody attack. They're hoping that the London bombing will have the same effect. Perversely, the Spanish cowardice is a contributing cause to the London attack: if all nations responded to attacks with toughness, most attacks would peter out. Notice that Al-Qaeda has not attacked either the U.S. or Israel since 9/11, though those countries are its rhetorical whipping-boys. Instead, they deliver their bombs where the effect will be fear and retreat.

So will the Britons retain their fabled stoic calm, and unite behind Blair in the war on terror? Or will they desert their leaders and look for a quick exit from Iraq, Afghanistan, and their position of international responsibility?

We have nothing to fear but fear itself.