Brussels Attacks

[Suff]

I read about this on the way to work. The terrorists hit Zaventem airport. Close to home for me but I was mainly travelling by train.

They also hit Maalbeek Metro. 500m from where I lived for 17 months and for 13 months my metro station for going to work. That’s a LOT closer to home.

My heart goes out to all those people just going about their daily lives to suddenly have it ripped apart by a bunch of antisocial belligerents who think the best way to go around getting what they want (world Islamic domination), is to murder more and more people.

Hope everyone else and their families are safe.

I called a friend from my last workplace and got him in the middle of a security announcement telling people to remain in the building until the area was secured.

[Weka]

Oh my Suff, I'm so pleased you changed jobs when you did. I haven't caught the news yet, but the tiny snippet I've seen doesn't look good

[Workingman]

I am only just back in so catching up.... but, yes, it is good to know that you are now out of there Suff.

Seems like these are revenge attacks for the arrest of that IS murderer and the deaths of a few of his colleagues.

This is something a few of us have been predicting for a long time and I am wondering if the fact the attacks were on the EU's doorstep will alter a few minds in there about how to go about things.

This tit-for-tat warring has to stop. It is time for the security forces to stop 'observing' these radicals and to round them up, lock them up and throw away the keys. Something has to be done before these murderers start going after 'soft' targets, of which there are many.

[TheOstrich]

No, no, no, WM ... you've got it all wrong. You must show "patience and restraint":

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... -restraint

Do feel free to read the VoxPop comments under the opinion article, but don't linger too long on them, they're so incendiary that your computer screen is likely to catch fire ....

So, let's ensure we lock up people like Simon Jenkins along with the radicals, because, in my view, people like him are just as much a threat to our society as the jihadists.

[Workingman]

Thanks for the link, Ossie.

I do not agree with the sentiment of Jenkins' article and I find it contradictory, but when he says this:

"There is no way any community can make itself immune to terror attacks. Since they are random, no protection can defend that community from them. No amount of police work or surveillance, no deployment of armies or navies, let alone of missiles or nuclear weapons, can guard against them. Intelligence and surveillance can go so far, but the bombers and killers will get through any net."

he is right. We cannot protect everywhere all of the time. I mentioned 'soft' targets earlier and I fear we will see them hit. I will not mention them in case some nutter reads and gets ideas. Our best hopes are intelligence and surveillance, along with internment without trial, as was used against the IRA.

He then goes on to say this:

"The blanket media coverage assured for any act of violence is reckless. The media must “report”, but it need not go berserk in revelling in the violence caused, as it manifestly has done to Islamic State brutality."

and again he is right. The coverage of the Paris attacks went on for days on end. It was voyeuristic and morbid. The analyses by experts went on endlessly and was so in-depth it probably gave intelligence to the terrorists. Reporting the facts is fine, but leave the rest to be.

ETA. I have just been flicking through the TV news channels and it looks like Sky and the BBC will not be satisfied until they have had a tweet, facebook post, email, phone call or interview with every survivor, government official and Boris Johnson.

Get out of the way and leave those tasked with the job of gathering evidence and clues and to clean up the mess to get on with things.

[cromwell]

Hungary has a pretty good idea of how to minimise the chance of these sorts of attacks.

[Suff]

I've just done some checking and Maalbeek station was hit circa 9am. If I had not changed my job from ING, there is a 60:40 chance that I would have been on that station at that time. I was often there at 9am as I usually got into work between 09:15 and 09:25.

A sobering thought.

Personally I would have 0 qualms about taking all of the bombers to a field with their "suicide vests", strapping them in, standing well back and pressing the button for them.

If they want to act like animals I'm willing to act like the Vet!

[KateLMead]

I read about this on the way to work. The terrorists hit Zaventem airport. Close to home for me but I was mainly travelling by train.

They also hit Maalbeek Metro. 500m from where I lived for 17 months and for 13 months my metro station for going to work. That’s a LOT closer to home.

My heart goes out to all those people just going about their daily lives to suddenly have it ripped apart by a bunch of antisocial belligerents who think the best way to go around getting what they want (world Islamic domination), is to murder more and more people.

Hope everyone else and their families are safe.

I called a friend from my last workplace and got him in the middle of a security announcement telling people to remain in the building until the area was secured.

i cannot believe that the airports can be so poorly attended by military., we all know the dangers we face with these terrorists who openly claim they will rule the world, heartbreaking situation for the innocent's caught up in this carnage.

[Kaz]

Suff, I am very glad that you were not caught up in all this - it a very sobering thought

[Suff]

Thanks Kaz. It is a sobering thought. It's the decision I had to make when I decided to leave. Mrs S was pretty rattled when I explained how close it could have been if I'd stayed in my first job for a year longer (which they wanted me to do).