WHAT WOULD ELLEN RIPLEY DO?

David Hencke writes in the Guardian:

Britain's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the terrorist attacks in London, a respected independent thinktank on foreign affairs, the Chatham House organisation, says today.

According to the body, which includes leading academics and former civil servants among its members, the key problem in the UK for preventing terrorism is that the country is "riding as a pillion passenger with the United States in the war against terror".

Yep, riding on the back of a motorcycle being driven by someone else can be dangerous. But, the report on which Hencke bases his "key problem" assertion also notes a preexisting internal problem:

By the mid-1990s the UK’s intelligence agencies and the police were well aware that London was increasingly being used as a base by individuals involved in promoting, funding and planning terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere. However, these individuals were not viewed as a threat to the UK’s national security, and so they were left to continue their activities with relative impunity, a policy which caused much anger among the foreign governments concerned. As a result of giving lower priority to international terrorism, the British authorities did notfully appreciate the threat from Al-Qaeda.

So, like the seemingly healthy unfortunates seeded with Alien* spawn who will eventually die as the evil within explodes from their chests, Britain has chosen to ignore the problem within. In comparison, while being a pillion passenger can be dangerous, it isn't necessarily fatal. And, if the evil within gets the passenger, it'll probably gnaw its way right through the back of the driver. Britain might want to consider some radical evil-removal surgery while there's still time to save the host.

* From a short review of Aliens:

The only one who makes any sense in the movie the whole time is Ripley, who keeps muttering "Nuke Them" like a macho sneering Dr Strangelove. Imagine if her sentiments were ever translated into real political terms! Gulp!

Gulp indeed.