The police killing
I think the best case that can be made for the police action.1. They have under surveillance a house in South London from which one of the suicide bombers came.
2. A man left the house and they decided to follow him. At this point they had no concern he was a potential suicide bomber.
3. At the tube station he bolted over the gates.
4. He wouldn't stop when he was given warnings about being shot.
5. Thus they assumed he was a suicide bomber and were forced to take action.
I think if this is roughly what happened then it's probably justifiable. The two main areas of concern would be (1) how small was this 'house' or 'flats'. If it was a large council flats block then this makes the initial suspicion weak. And (3) what caused him to bolt over the gates. ?
A few things seem to me to be red herrings. The issue of his wearing a coat. Friday was not a particularly warm morning, and enough Londoners do wear thick coats on such days. On the other hand it appears his spoken English was good, so it seems unlikely he didn't understand the warnings.
So probably a tragic but understandable mistake. What is more concerning is the police's seeming inability to indentify the man for over a day. According to the Sunday Times they said he was one of the bombers, then they said he was something to do with it, and were still saying he was known from previous counter-terrorism operations yesterday. What we need is...Oh lord I'm arguing for identity cards.
posted by Matthew @ 7/24/2005 10:59:00 AM
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