On the Syrian side, people are despairing of the situation, sympathizing with the neighbors, but completely impotent, as always, to help anyone, least of all themselves.

One shot from afar may have been a mistake. One shot from close range would have been gross incompetence. 8 shots from close range was a public execution.

Blair got nothing in return for its alliance with – or rather blind devotion to – the Bush administration, and clearly has very little clout in Washington. Is Blair's foreign policy really advancing his country's interests?

When it finally emerged, a few days later, that these were suicide bombers, and British-born ones to boot, the shock was even bigger than the shock of the attack. No border controls could have prevented this.