Geniuses or idiots?

The bombs in London have killed at 33 people and injured hundreds. It is alarming to think that Al Qaeda still has the resources to coordinate the setting off of at least four bombs in a short timeframe.

Garfield Ridge thinks this is a sign that we could still lose this war.

However, I think there are a couple of causes for hope, if it even makes sense to talk about that so soon after this act of wickedness.

First, they managed to get four bombs to go off, but "only" killed a few tens of people. Believe me, I'm not trying to belittle the tragic human toll. I'm simply thinking that the last major bombings in Madrid and Bali each killed more than 200 people. Given that the London bombers set off four explosions during rush hour in one of the busiest subway systems in the world, I'm thankful the toll wasn't much, much higher.

I don't know what the relatively limited effects of these bombs indicates about AQ's bomb-making abilities. Does it mean that they know they can't get away with a massive car bomb, so they are limited to smaller, more easily constructible and concealable devices?

Also, the bombers may have thought they were clever, pulling this off while world leaders were meeting at the G8 summit in nearby Scotland. Yet all it has done is to ensure their further isolation from the world. Not only have they just royally pissed off the eight most advanced and powerful countries in the world (the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada), they have alienated the five biggest developing countries (China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa) as well, countries that are normally happy to wait these things out on the sidelines. Moreover, the bombings occurred just as these above-mentioned countries were hammering out ways to lift Africa out of poverty and make headway against global warming.

I'm not sure that was the smartest game plan.