London Bomb Threat - What's Next?

Reuters reports :
"Explosive experts defused a car bomb packed with petrol, gas and nails on Friday which could have caused huge loss of life in London's busy theatre district and raised fears of a terrorist attack"

Thank God or whoever that an explosion was somehow avoided. There are two things I worry about following a terrorist attack:

1) The loss of life.
2) The game of political "freak out" that will inevitably follow.

When progressing threw the 21st century we must be constantly aware that our progression can and probably will be interrupted by terrorist and political madmen.

One thing we can never allow to happen is for the terrorist to intimidate us into giving up essential liberties for the temporary illusion of security.

We cannot allow the inhumanity of the terrorist cause us to abandon our own humanity in pursuit of justice or revenge.

Most of all we should not allow fear mongering politicians to take advantage of our vulnerability and use it as an opportunity to bolster their own self image.

Let there be no doubt that Conservatives will attempt to exploit the latest foiled plot in London as just another example of the reasons they believe we need to continue the war in Iraq and the War on Terror.

Shortly thereafter, once the message has been disseminated the Conservatives that are seeking to bolster their self image will then attack their Democratic adversaries, predictably stating that if we leave Iraq that the same types of plots will continue.

The truth is that as long as the Middle East is politically unstable and the United States contributes to that instability is as long as Islamic extremist will try to attack us.

As long as we continue to see the Israeli/Palestinian issue as a one sided matter, as long as we occupy the Middle East, as long as we don't secure our own ports and borders, and as long as we are dependent on Middle Eastern oil we will always be vulnerable to extremist.

Furthermore, as long as we are vulnerable to extremist we are easy prey for political ideologues seeking to position themselves as the so called protectors of America while advocating a policy that is actually detrimental to national security.

UPDATE: Second car found rigged with explosives