Western and Central Europe

The bombings of three trains in the London Underground (subway) system and of one London bus on July 7, 2005, have been denounced as terrorist attacks by world leaders and reported as terrorism by the media. Although there is still no all-encompassing definition of terrorism that is universally recognized in international law, it is apparent that these bombings would qualify legally as terrorism and that there are international ramifications.

 

British news headlines have recently been dominated by the General Election, which took place on 5 May 2005. Predictably, the Iraq war was one of the "hot topics" of the election, and received much air time from politicians of all persuasions. One comment, which sparked a flurry of press attention, may have been confusing both to lay observers in Britain and to watchers abroad. On 30 April 2005, Gordon Brown, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, stated that, in future, Members of Parliament should be allowed to decide whether Britain goes to war.[1]

 

I. The British Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001