The world held their breath again yesterday morning. A mere 2 weeks after the deadly tube bombing in London, it happened again. At approximately 12:25pm, Shepherd's Bush station was evacuated. At 12:38 the Oval Underground station was evacuated. Then at 12:45pm, ambulances were called to another station at Warren Street this station was also evacuated. Finally at 1:42pm, the police were called because of a bomb explosion on a number 26 bus. It was a scene that was eerily reminiscent of the previous attack (Brits now call it the 7/7 bombings). Luckily, the plan failed. All of the bombs failed to fully detonate, and on the bus only a few windows were blown out. There were no casualties, and the only "injury" was someone who suffered an asthma attack. But the reaction to the attacks were totally different.

Two weeks ago, reports everywhere stated how calm and collected the British people were. This morning, the only word I have heard describing the aftermath of civilians is "pandemonium." The terrorists are playing on peoples worst fears-the possibility that this time, the terror won’t stop.I talked to Harold Weekes, who saw people being evacuated at the Leicester Square tube station. "The police had everyone moving along quickly, even though they were doing that by themselves. Everyone was very quiet. The only noise was when someone called their families on cell phones to say they were safe. But everyone had panicked looks on their faces." His son Trevor agreed with him. "Everyone was looking around like 'oh shit, it’s happened again. The hardest thing is fighting an enemy without a face. Before the people I looked suspiciously at were the spazzes (crazy people). Now, it could be anyone. That makes the whole thing scarier."

When he addressed the nation, Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to ally these fears. "I think we have just got to react calmly and continue with our business as much as possible as normal." And once the air settled and it became apparent that no one was hurt, people went back to work. Some were even brave enough to go as close to the affected stations as the police would let them. It was a scene that brought to mind memories of rubberneckers watching the aftermath of a car wreck.
Soon emotions turned ugly, as the feeling began to spread that these attacks would never end. In the London News Review on the 7th, writer Charlie wrote that "This is London. We've dealt with your sort before. You don't try and pull this on us. Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you're trying to do, it's not going to work. All you've done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don't get rewarded for this kind of crap." It is a sentiment that is being echoed throughout Britain again. Blogger Michelle Malkin reported throughout the day, but the title of her posts said it all: Not again-The manhunt is on.
These attacks have an obvious impact on the American people. If you rode the train today, you noticed something different.

Occasionally, police officers stop someone and perform a cursory search of their belongings. These random bag searches are unprecedented in New York City without there being a major political event. There are also weapon carrying police officers at the entrances of some stations, along with bomb sniffing dogs. This is a clear indication that the authorities do not want to be caught sleeping if an attack happens here. Yet not everyone agrees with these new measure. Namibia Williams says that "I understand that because of the terror attacks in London that they want to make higher security, but picking random people in buses and trains is not the right way to enforce security."
This new heightened security seems to go directly opposite to comments made by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. On July 14th, the Homeland Security Secretary said that federal funding for subway and bus safety should take a back seat to airline security. A bomb in a subway car "may kill 30 people" compared with an airplane, which "has the capacity to kill 3,000 people," is what he told the Associated Press. While it is very true that airplane security is important, millions of people travel on the subway in New York. If the train system is attacked, the city would be shut down. And no amount of airplane safety would change that. Straphanger Gisele Doucet put it best." A life is a life. If we start rationalizing which is more important, we’re no better than they are."