SOURCES OF TERRORISM
The Arab press gave blanket coverage to the London bombings, except in Cairo, where the media focus was on the killing by Iraqi kidnappers of Egypt's top diplomat in Baghdad.
An editorial in Egypt's state-run al-Gomhuria daily took the West to task for its "war on terrorism," saying this had failed to provide security for Americans or Europeans.
"The American administration must try fair solutions for the issues of occupied people as this will dry up the sources of terrorism and return stability to the world," it said.
Most Lebanese newspapers linked the strikes on London to British military involvement in Iraq:
"Al Qaeda spreads death from Iraq to the heart of London," was the headline in al-Balad, while the leading an-Nahar daily said: "Olympic London turned into a battlefield for Iraq."
As-Safir newspaper condemned the "terrorists" who struck at the heart of London. "But this doesn't cancel the fact that occupation is terrorism against people, whether American as in Iraq or Israeli as in Palestine," it added.
The London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper led its 11 pages on the attacks with a huge picture of a victim and the headline: "Al Qaeda's fingerprints on London's bloody morning."
In Tehran, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani used his Friday sermon to condemn the blasts, but reminded British Prime Minister Tony Blair of what he said was al Qaeda's parentage.
"You (Blair) should not forget that al Qaeda was created by big powers. America is the father and Israel is the mother of al Qaeda," he declared. "The aim of Qaeda's creation was to cause problems for Iran. Now it causes problems for its founders."
In Islamist Internet chatrooms, several users welcomed the bloodshed in London. "To those surprised by the killing of Americans and Britons in their countries, weren't you shocked by the killing of women and children in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan? As they kill us, we should kill them," one said.
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