Eyewitness Accounts in London

THIS IS LONDON

Where is Edward R. Murrow when you need him?

At least 50 people were killed and 700 injured yesterday in London.

Some eyewitness accounts:

"All of sudden there was this massive huge bang. It was absolutely deafening and all the windows shattered. The glass did not actually fall out of the windows, it just cracked.

The train came to a grinding halt, everyone fell off their seats. There were just loads of people screaming and the carriages filled with smoke. You couldn't really breathe and you couldn't see what was happening. There were some people in real trouble. "

###

“I was being twisted and thrown to the ground. I thought I wasn't going to get out of this - whatever it was - I just didn't know. I thought that was it when it went all so dark. Then I touched my hand to my face and felt the blood and knew it wasn't all over yet.”

###

“Everybody was absolutely terrified. You could hear the screaming from the carriages in front, because that was where the explosion had happened, and there was lots of injured people there. Nobody knew what was going on.

People were trying to open the doors and the windows to let the smoke out and were rocking the train, which
already felt like it had come off its rails. So we were panicking that the train was going to get knocked over.

It was just general chaos. I thought I was going to die when I saw the flames. I thought we were going to get engulfed by the flames or get overwhelmed by the smoke.

I really didn't think we were going to get out. It hasn't quite sunk in, I think. It's the kind of thing
where you see it on the news, but don't expect to be in it - and I was in it and it was horrible.”

###

“There was a huge "boom" outside. I knew it was a bomb straight away. There was that smell of an explosion
that accompanied it. I saw lots of debris fly past the window, including one huge chunk. It must have been the roof of the
bus.”
###
“I was walking along. There was a crowd of people around the bus. The next thing I knew I was on the floor. There was shed loads of glass raining down. Someone fell on me and someone fell on him. For a moment I thought I was going to be trampled. I picked myself up and everyone was running. There was glass everywhere. I saw the bus ripped out at the back
... it couldn't have been anything else but a terrorist attack."

###
“I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air.
It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air. There must be a lot of people dead as all the buses were packed, they had been turning people away from the tube stops."

###
“There was a big bang. After the smoke went away I realised there was a double decker bus exploded. People were running towards me screaming and crying. I saw at least five people jump from the top deck of the bus. Half of it was blown away. They were jumping onto the street to escape. It was such a big explosion and the bus was packed
because the tube was closed. People were covered with
dust and debris. I didn't see any blood.”
###
"The train didn't get very far out of the station when there was an explosion. Loads of glass showered down over everyone, the glass in the doors in between all the carriages shattered. There was a lot of smoke and a lot of dust, there were some areas of panic, I could hear screams. People were trying to work out what happened. A lot of people were covered in blood."
###
"The lights went out, and with the smoke, we couldn't breathe, and we sort of cushioned each other during the impact because the compartment was so full. It felt like a dream, it was surreal.

It was just horrendous, it was like a disaster movie, you can't imagine being somewhere like that, you just want to get out. I kept closing my eyes and thinking of outside."
###
"There was a loud bang and the train ground to a halt. People started panicking, screaming and crying as smoke came into the carriage. Everyone was terrified when it happened. One guy was being tended outside on the track. His clothes were torn off and he seemed pretty badly burned."
###
"People were screaming and shouting and saying things like I'm dying, I'm dying, please help me. I think I saw somebody who was dead it was just indescribable."
###
"I was on the train and there was a fire outside the carriage window and then there was a sudden jolt which shook us forward.

The explosion was behind me. There was really hard banging from the carriage next door to us. That was where it happened. A carriage was split in two, all jagged, and without a roof, just open. I saw bodies, I think."

####
"I saw three bodies on the track. I couldn't look, it was so horrific. I think one was moving but I'm not too sure. I couldn't look, it was so horrific . There was a massive explosion, smoke and flames. My carriage must have been two away from where it was. The middle of the train was blown out and there were people on the track."

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ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT A MUSLIM?

Miles O'Brien, CNN:
“Let's get started with Jeevan Deol, who is a witness
to the bombings yesterday and also a Muslim scholar in
London and happened to be right near where the double
decker bus blew up. I want to ask you about what you
saw, but first, I am curious what the reaction within
the Muslim community is this day after those attacks.”

Jeevan Deol:
“Well, I'm afraid Miles I'm going to have to correct
you. I am not a Muslim, so I think I'm going to have
to pass on that question.”

O'Brien:
“I'm sorry, I thought it was said you're a Muslim --
you're NOT a Muslim scholar?”

Deol:
“No, I work on terrorism and security issues in the
University of London.”

–– CNN, July 8, 2005


Could you pretend to be? Just for a little while?


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HEADLINE OF THE DAY

As seen on CNN, July 7:

" COULD IT HAPPEN HERE? "


Um, yes.
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GREAT MOMENTS AT FOX NEWS

BRIT HUME:

“The other thing is, of course, people have -- you
know, the market was down. It was down yesterday, and
you know, you may have had some bargain-hunting going
on.”

“I mean, my FIRST THOUGHT when I heard -- just on a
personal basis, when I heard there had been this
ATTACK and I saw the futures this morning, which were
really in the tank, I thought, "HMMMM, TIME TO BUY."

"Others may have thought that as well. But you never
know about the markets."

–– Brit Hume on Fox News, July 7, 2005.

His first thought, really?

Remember when Brit was correspondent for ABC?

Thank god he’s found a home in psychoville.

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GREAT MOMENTS AT FOX NEWS, PART TWO


BRIAN KILMEADE:

“This is his [British Prime Minister Tony Blair]
second address in the last hour. First to the people
of London, and now at the G8 summit, where their topic
Number 1 --believe it or not-- was global warming, the
second was African aid. And that was the first time
since 9-11 when they should know, and they do know
now, that terrorism should be Number 1. But it's
important for them all to be together."

"I think that works to OUR ADVANTAGE, in the Western
world's ADVANTAGE, for people to experience something
like this together, just 500 miles from where the
attacks have happened.”

–– Brian Kilmeade, Fox News, July 7, 2005.

They’re always thinking at Fox, I’ll give ‘em that.
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FOX NEWS
SUPPORTERS OF TERRORISM


“All day long people have been saying to me, "Wasn't it great they didn't pick Paris?" And I've been saying, "No, no, no." Paris was exactly the right place to pick and the Olympic committee screwed up.”

“Why? Simple. It would have been a three-week period where we wouldn't have had to worry about terrorism. First, the French think they are so good at dealing with the Arab world that they would have gone out and paid every terrorist off. And things would have been calm.”

“Or another way to look at it is the French are already up to their eyeballs in terrorists. The French hide them in miserable slums, out of sight of the rich people in Paris."

"So it would have been a TREAT, actually, to watch the French dealing with the problem of their own homegrown Islamist TERRORISTS living in France already.”

“But, alas, they picked London. I like the Brits. I like London. I hate to see them going through all this garbage when it would have BEEN JUST FINE in Paris.”

–– Anchorman John Gibson, Fox News Web site, July 6,
2005. (Before the London bombings took place).

Let me repeat that:

Terrorism, bombings, bloodshed, murder, are “JUST
FINE.”

“JUST FINE”

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HISTORY IN THE MAKING

Michelle Wie, finished runner up to Annika Sorenstam at the LPGA Classic last week, a major akin to the Masters or the
U.S. Open for the men. Not bad for an amateur.

Oh, and she's 15 years old.

No woman has made the cut in a men's golfing event in 60 years.

No boy that young has ever done it, or could hope to, in my experience.

But Michelle Wie almost made the cut, playing against professional men at the John Deere Classic today.

"It's pretty phenomenal,'' said J.L. Lewis, the early second-round leader at 13-under 129 who could wind up being a trivia question.

"She's 15 years old. Let's face it. Has there ever been anybody that age, man or woman, that could play in a tour event at age 15? I don't know. Maybe there is, but I don't think they've ever done it. Obviously she can go out and break par. More power to her. It's pretty impressive.''

Annika Sorenstam tried to make the cut at the Colonial in 2003, an event she picked specifically because it played to her strengths. She didn't make it.

Checking the leaderboard, I see she tied with Nick Price, winner of four majors and 1994 Player of the Year; and she finished ahead of Larry Mize, the 1987 Masters Champion; Kirk Triplett, one of the top players on tour; Aaron Baddeley, star of those tv commercials and the Next Big Thing; Billy Andrade, winner of $900,000 this year so far; Lucas Glover, winner of over $1 million dollars in 2005 so far; and believe it or not, David Duval, the man who dethroned Tiger Woods in 1999 to become the #1 golfer in the world, the man who shot the lowest score in golf history recently, and who won the 2001 British
Open.

Oh, well, there's always next year. And next year, and next year.....

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