IT IS ironic that the focus of local concern in the immediate aftermath of the reports of the London bombings have shifted from possible Jamaican
casualties to the possible involvement of a man of Jamaican origin.
It gives a new dimension to the popular saying that where Jamaicans are concerned, "if there is an egg we must be in the red" - meaning, wherever the scene of the action is a Jamaican must be involved, for good or ill.
But while the investigations into last week's terrorist bombings in London still have a far way to go, the links to Jamaica are tenuous at best.
So far, the probe suggests the acts were carried out by young suicide bombers from the north of England, some of whom had peripheral links to persons claiming to have links with Islam. One of the persons believed to be among the attackers, has been identified as a young man of Jamaican parentage.
In fact, Minister of Information Burchell Whiteman has confirmed that the name given was indeed that of a boy born to a Jamaican woman. It is reported that he has been living in England since he was five months old and may have visited the island only once in his 19 years.
Jamaicans have long been the focus of the British police investigating the drug-crime link and 'yardie' gangs. So now the U.K. authorities are likely to want to broaden the scope of their surveillance and investigations to include possible Jamaican involvement in other kinds of terrorism.
However, the kind of violence associated with radical, fundamentalist religious beliefs and or suicidal martyrdom, have not been a feature of Jamaican communities to date. This does not mean, however, that persons cannot be recruited to be part of that belief system.
Not to be overlooked is the distressing arbitrariness of the suicide terrorist attacks. Whereas some groups target buildings or facilities associated with states or firms with whom they have a grouse, these attackers go anywhere among any groups of persons and self-destruct, taking the lives of others with them.
It is hardly likely that any of the 55 fatalities or 700 injured in London last week would have any reason to believe they were on the terrorists radar, and in fact they were not. They were just ordinary people going to work, school or shopping.
It is disconcerting to think that young people may be targeted, recruited and brainwashed to engage in suicide missions. Political leaders who send young soldiers to fight wars based on fabrications are not unlike the terrorist recruiters who pick off youth in the prime of their life while the real culprits remain in the shadows directing operations.
The challenge then is for our security forces and intelligence officers to be aware of all possibilities, and to get the necessary training to deal with all eventualities even if we have no history of home-grown terrorism of the London kind.
