If the Islamist lunatics who bombed London two days ago expected the Brits to react as the Spaniards did after Madrid, their mission has failed utterly. The London Telegraph has a new poll taken in the aftermath of the bombings that show increased support for Tony Blair, the fight against Islamofascism, and the battle to establish democracy in Iraq (via USS Neverdock):

The response of Tony Blair and his ministers to the attacks has clearly boosted the standing of both. Early this year, twice as many people said they were dissatisfied with Mr Blair as Prime Minister as said the opposite. In the aftermath of Thursday's bombings, Mr Blair's approval rating has flipped from negative to positive for the first time in five years.

Moreover, the bombings have failed - despite Mr George Galloway's best efforts - to undermine support for the British presence in Iraq. The proportion wanting British troops brought home quickly has fallen and the proportion who now want Britain to retain its close ties with the US has risen.

Anthony King points out in his report that Britons now may rethink the balance between civil liberties and increased security. Blair's push for national ID cards, which seemed doomed to failure, now suddenly has a large boost of support. Eighty percent think that police and intelligence services should take action against those suspected of terrorist activities even when no crimes have been committed by the suspects.

The reason? A fourteen-point increase in the number of Britons who now believe that Islamofascism poses an existential threat to Western civilization, now at 46% from the 32% that understood it after 9/11.

If the bombers expected the British people to slink away and to follow the Spaniards in retreat, they made a big mistake. Whether the numbers stay high as the weeks go on remains to be seen, of course. The clarity one has in seeing a problem immediately after a catastrophe like this vicious attack often gets clouded by the details of how one acts to prevent it from happening again. We've seen that in spades here in the United States, of course. The British have had more experience in handling attacks of this nature, however, and I believe that they will see their choices as fighting for survival or retreating and fantasizing that the threat doesn't exist. Given those options, the British have never chosen the latter, and I don't expect them to start now.

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» Increased support for Tony Blair post London bombings from BlogSpy.NET
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