Foot in mouth disease

A USAF spokeswoman at Mildenhall in Suffolk said: "The order was made in a battle staff directive from our wing commander.

"Military members are not allowed to go to London until further notice. They are not being allowed to go anywhere inside the M25.

"Family members who are US civilians and are not subject to orders are also being highly encouraged to stay away from London.

"The main reason is because the security of our people is our top concern."

Nice. Very nice. Just as the Londoners are trying to get back to normal and convince tourists not to stay away. Simon Jenkins said it best: "London must be one of the safest cities on Earth. The only conceivable purchase the terrorists can get is by sowing fear, a fear which is statitistically irrational - Americans are more at risk on the roads round their bases than in the capital. Yet Washington handed Al-Qaeda a free publicity coup on a plate." [Via James Wolcott]

Meanwhile, our commander-in-chief is certainly displaying a deft touch in addressing the subject of terrorism in the wake of the latest London bombings when he gave a speech at the FBI academy at Quantico yesterday:

"We're fighting the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan and across the world so we do not have to face them here at home." [Bush said.] [snip]

What does Bush's statement mean? Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Fran Townsend, the president's homeland security adviser, said that the war in Iraq attracts terrorists "where we have a fighting military and a coalition that can take them on and not have the sort of civilian casualties that you saw in London."

[Via Praktike, who adds " It's unclear whether Townsend believes that Iraqis are in fact people"]