More than fifty people were killed and hundreds were injured when bombs exploded on three subway trains and a double-decker bus in London. An Al-Qaida linked group claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks, but British officials have yet to identify the perpetrators.
President George W. Bush was at the summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations, taking place in Gleneagles, Scotland. He said terrorist attacks like the bombings in London will fail to achieve their objective:
"We 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 overcome their ideology of hate."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who hosted the summit, said the "barbaric" attacks were designed to coincide with the Group of Eight meetings. "Whatever [terrorists] do," said Mr. Blair, "it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilized nations throughout the world":
"Today's bombings will not weaken in any way our resolve to uphold the most deeply held principles of our societies and to defeat those who would impose their fanaticism and extremism on all of us. We shall prevail, and they shall not."
Mr. Blair said many nations now stand together:
"We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation but on all nations, and on civilized people everywhere."
"We know," said President Bush, "that if evil is not confronted, it gains in strength and audacity, and returns to strike us again. We know that when the work is hard, the proper response is not retreat, it is courage."
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.
