Whether it's a hundred deaths or one, it's too many. But reports indicate that the casualty count could have been far, far, worse beneath the streets of Old London. The death toll could have been in the hundreds or even the thousands.

It wasn't miracles, it wasn't luck, it wasn't poor planning on the part of the criminals. Indeed; every sign is they sought to kill as many innocent men, women, and children as they could. What saved Londoners was Londoners.

Over the years London has learned to deal with terrorism the hard way. And there was a horrible fire at the Oxford Circus Station 18 years ago. In the aftermath of all this, Londoners invested in expensive and comprehensive security systems, the best civilian emergency responders in the world, fire resistant construction materials throughout the transit system, and a high tech ventilation and heat dissipation system to keep the air clean and breathable below deck.

Without the vent system and fire resistant materials alone, the bomb blasts could have turned those tubes into smoked-filled ovens, disturbingly similar in both scale and effect to a Nazi Concentration Camp. The UK also boasts some of the best counter-terrorism measures on earth and they have trained and drilled for events like this for years. When the blasts rocked the streets above, those emergency plans swung into gear like a well oiled engine, alternate and emergency power systems kicked in, first responders whipped into coordinated action, and toxic fumes and withering heat was vented safely away, everyone knew what to do; Thousands of potential victims staggered out of the hadaean depths into the blinding light of safety, or were led and carried out of the subway ... alive.

The end result is about 50 were killed. As horrible and senseless as that is, it sounds like it could have easily been hundreds.

The courage, professionalism, training, and community minded foresight of Londoners saved Londoners. Planning, discipline, and long range investment in safety, escorted thousands of potential victims out of the maelstrom.

In this light it's only natural for Americans to wonder, how would we stack up against London? The answer: Not very well at all. From Sirotablog:

But the fact that this line of reasoning [the flypaper concept] insults our intelligence shouldn't be the biggest concern with it. The fact that this rationale has justified spending billions on a war in Iraq while shortchanging basic homeland security is what's really troubling. For years now, experts have begged the Bush administration to adequately fund key homeland security priorities - but they have been rejected at almost every turn. Instead, the White House has knowingly left our ports, our borders and yes - our transit systems - totally vulnerable to terrorist attacks because they have refused to spend adequate resources, even as they have insisted on cutting taxes for the wealthy and plunging us into a war in Iraq. When Democrats have tried to reduce those tax cuts to pay for critical homeland security needs, they have been voted down. Meanwhile, GOP leaders in Congress have gone along: for instance, just a few weeks ago they gutted funding for transit security.

Assuming this was the work of Islamic Militants ... (That has not been confirmed although it looks likely)

President Bush has said a number of times, "We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them in the streets of our own cities."

The flypaper strategy; It was all a masterful trick to get the terrorist to come to Iraq and leave the world alone! In the light of Madrid, Bali, and now London, this is clearly exposed for the nonsense those of us with half a clue realized it always was: Another blood-drenched false claim in a long line of malarkey from this White House with no basis in reality and no plan to speak of. A statement designed to scare us into supporting the invasion of Iraq and the security policies which have exposed us to more danger rather than less.

Oh, that we could have the foresight and vision of Londoners! If only we, like they, had leaders who put our Homeland Security and our welfare ahead of tax cuts for the mega-rich and their own power. But alas my friends, if that same attack had happened on our subways, the outcome probably would have been quite different indeed.

Londoners please take a bow. Americans please take notice.