By that thinking, the speculation by the authorities of London and their preparation for an attack encouraged the events of last Thursday?
The things that I have said in this (and other threads) are no more than is being said in conversations the length and breadth of the land. They are observations made by one who lives and works in this country. I was half a mile from an IRA bomb that killed several people including police officers. I do not believe that it was possible to prevent the IRA bombs any more than we encouraged them.
These folks are no different. They are trying to make us stop what we are doing in the middle east, as much as the IRA was against what we do in Ireland. They are so much further ahead in their thinking, as the agressor always will be.
KP, if I got all semantic, I would point out that they may have behaviour that we do not like but they are not 'mad'. That is, according to the dictionary for they know exactly what they are doing and consider it to be valid. In the same way that Blair and Bush consider that their actions in Afghanistan and Irag are valid.