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North American reaction to London bombings
US reaction to the London bombings included speculation that international travel would decline. And in Canada, officials beefed up security measures.
Canadian airlines, railways, bus and light rail systems across the country boosted security on everything from international airline flights to subway lines.
Public safety minister Anne McLellan said: “There is no specific threat to Canada at this time, but you have to be prepared, you have to take all precautionary measures.”
In the US, homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff announced that the nation’s “inter-city passenger rail, subways and metropolitan bus systems” have been put under an “orange,” or high alert. That’s a notch higher than the yellow or elevated level during normal times.
Chertoff and officials at the Transportation Security Administration also said no specific threats have been detected recently against the nation’s transit systems, which the Bush administration described as vastly more secure since the 9-11 attacks.
The London bomb attacks may bring a slight decline in UK bookings from the US for a few weeks, predicted airline analyst Jamie Baker at J. P. Morgan.
But long-range tourism was not expected to be affected, according to most analysts.
Newspapers throughout the US raised the question of how the country could prevent a similar mass-transit terror attack.
“The answer from homeland security experts is that it is virtually impossible to deter determined terrorists without the infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars and the imposition of draconian searches of millions of passengers and their bags,” wrote the Knoxville Sentinel newspaper.
Several newspapers quoted experts as saying the US passenger rail and bus systems will continue to attract future terrorists.
“For those determined to kill in quantity and willing to kill indiscriminately, public transportation offers an ideal target,” Rand Corp. terrorism analyst Brian Jenkins said in a recent report.
Since 9/11, US mass-transportation anti-terror strategy has focused items such as removing trash cans that could hide bombs on subway platforms. Officials have also focused on installing closed-circuit surveillance systems, and training personnel and educating passengers in looking for suspicious people and activities.
United States Chargé d’Affaires in London David Johnson expressed “strong support” for the people of London and the UK in the aftermath of the bombings.
He said: “The British emergency service and security personnel have swiftly responded to [the] terrorist actions, while the residents of London have demonstrated their steadfast resolve in dealing with today’s challenges. Our Embassy is working closely with British officials. We have also taken immediate action to check on the safety of American citizens in London, and to provide assistance to them.
“As President Bush stated, ‘(W)e will not yield to the terrorists. We will find them, we will bring them to justice, and at the same time, we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate’.”
Report by David Wilkening
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