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"The London attacks were a modest, simple affair by four seemingly normal men using the internet."

If that's really true that's even more worrisome than tentacles of Al Qaeda plotters, since it indicates how easily jihadist suicide-homicide bombers can spring up anyplace that has MUSLIMS.

Still, I would not be confident that the Brits know all there is to know about the "visits to Pakistan" and other aspects of the lives of these young terrorists. Ultimately, whether or not Al Qaeda and similar groups have planned or ordered any particular attack, that debate is secondary to what really matters: nearly every western nation is STILL, 4.5 years after 9/11, far too lax about laws, policies, and intel related to the jihadist menace. When we still have to waste so much time and energy debating about the so-called 'rights' of 500 jihadists locked up at Guantanamo, rather than tracking down and killing every last jihadist and terror-enabler, then it is obvious that no western nation is really serious enough about combatting this menace.

The above storyline isn't credible. First, there was more than one abandoned backpack bomb. Second, the 7/7 London and 7/21 subway blasts coincided with attacks using the same explosives in Egypt. Third, Mohammed Atta's dad claimed responsibility for the attacks on behalf of Al Qaeda.

http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/week29/index.html

Unexploded Backpacks Leading to Swift Investigation of Attackers' Links (Updated with picture)

As the CT Blog Experts and others predicted after the 7/21 attacks (Steven Emerson here and here and Evan Kohlmann here), the unexploded backpacks appear to be leading to a swift investigation of the links between the 7/7 and 7/21 attackers. The July 24 Guardian reports that "Police now believe some of the men they are pursuing for last week's abortive attacks...attended a whitewater rafting trip at the same centre as two of the 7 July bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer. Evidence discovered in the rucksacks left behind by the failed bombers led police to three addresses in London. When investigators cross-referenced them with the electoral register they discovered names that tallied with those of individuals who attended the outdoor adventure course in Snowdonia last summer. Scotland Yard has confirmed the explosive used in the 21 July bomb attempts bore a similarity to that used in the earlier attacks."

UPDATE, 7/24: Third Arrest Made in Botched London Bombings - and "Analysts: Al-Qaeda behind attacks: London, Egypt blasts mirror group's tactics" - The back-to-back nature of the attacks in Egypt and London, as well as similarities in the methods used, suggests that al-Qaeda might have ordered both operations and is a clear sign Osama bin Laden and his deputies remain in control, according to counterterrorism analysts and government officials in Europe and the Middle East."

London Daily Mirror photo: "Mohammed Sidique Khan (middle right showing V-sign) and Aldgate bomber Shezad Tanweer (bottom right leaning forward)"

It's important to the lib/left "narrative" that the attacks not be the work of al-qaeda.

Now the attacks can be spun as a spontaneous outburst of terrorism triggered by Bush/Blair's unprovoked attack on the peace-loving muslims of Iraq. The lib/left has been claiming that the Iraq war is creating more terrorism than it is quelling.

If al-qaeda had a connection to the London attacks, then it could be seen as a part of the pre-Iraq war islamo-fascist onslaught against the west, thus vindicating to some extent Bush/Blair's policies.