Juan Cole posted on his blog a translation from the Islamic web site claiming to take responsibility for the bombings in London this morning.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/07/statement-of-qaeda-al-jihad-in-europe.html

British officials are saying the bombing "bears all the marks of al-Qaeda," which is pretty much to be expected.  But then the BBC quotes the Home Secretary saying, "The aim of the terrorists to try and stop us leading our lives as we best can", which strikes me as just about as useful as the "they are attacking us because they hate our freedom."

As a general rule, I think most Americans could care less why terrorists do the things they do.  The problem is, if you don't know who your enemy is and why you are fighting them, then how can you be expected to accomplish anything?  This isn't some far out left-wing philosophy: its basic common sense.

So, it should be clear.  The terrorists aren't attacking us because they hate our freedoms.  They are attacking because they believe that they are being attacked.  No, this isn't a plea for sympathy for the bad guys.  Anyone who puts a bomb on a subway, or blows up civilians, needs to be dealt with, and not nicely.  But if we don't address the underlying reasons driving the terrorists, there will be an unending supply of people willing to strap explosives to themselves in order to take out a few innocents along the way.