I don't even know how to start to react to the news that the man police shot dead from point blank range at Stockwell tube station was NOT a suicide bomber, was NOT an Arab or South Asian, but was instead a Brazilian electrician who had been in the UK legally for three years. His only mistake, that cost him his life, seems to have been running away from twitchy (I'll give the police some credit, I won't say trigger happy) armed plain clothes police.
Apologising to the guys family today, after advising that even if he wasn't one of the bombers he was directly related to the plotting yesterday. Grrr. Not that suicide bombers should be allowed to detonate themselves, but it seems Baghdad rules of engagement have come to London - ie, shoot first, ask questions later.
But I do kinda sorta sympathise with the Met at the moment - the pressure on them all, top brass and street bobbies must be immense at the moment. But please rethink the shoot to kill policy, please.
Another carbomb in Baghdad - 22 police killed. This article in the New York Times today basically asks has Iraq already slipped into civil war? Sunnis and Shias killing each other, with the more occassional attack on the Kurds. The country could be fracturing into a larger version of 1980's Lebanon? Thinking especially the suicide bombings on the US and French barracks in Beirut. Icky icky thought, but is almost there or thereabouts already.
'Despite these gloomy trends, American commanders have continued to hint at the possibility of at least an initial reduction of the 140,000 American troops stationed here by next summer, contingent on progress in creating effective Iraqi units. Some senior officers have said privately that there is a chance that the pullback will be ordered regardless of what is happening in the war, and that the rationale will be that Iraq - its politicians and its warriors - will ultimately have to find ways of overcoming their divides on their own.
America, these officers seem to be saying, can do only so much, and if Iraqis are hellbent on settling matters violently - at the worst, by civil war - that, in the end, would be their sovereign choice.'
Hmm, my mind goes back to the alleged Colin Powell doctrine on Iraq in the early days of the war - 'you broke it, you fix it'. Now if only others in Washington could even consider taking responsibility for their actions, eh Karl Rove LOL.
Oh goodness - an Iraq related story that got a smile and an actual laugh out of me. Nine people, five activists and four journalists, are going to court in Arizona for trespassing on government property and harrassing army recruiters. The activists were women in their 60s or 70s wanting to enlist so that their grandchildren could come home from the warzones. The army is saying that they should be writing to their congressmen and women instead of annoying enlisters. Hmm, I would say with the failure to hit recruiting targets they should sign up anybody who wants to be - even if they are kept in the States behind a desk somewhere...
Hmm, another NYT article here, saying that the insurgents, suicide bombers and other assorted 'dead enders' (copyright Donald Rumsfeld 2004) are running rings around both the American military and Iraqi government in their presumed intention to sow chaos. The Americans still apparently have no intelligence assets of any worth within a country they have supposedly managed for two and a half years.
Hmm, the NHL have changed their logo - I hadn't seen that yesterday - went and searched for a copy of the old one, before it disappears for all time. Something about traditions and all, and the initials not being in Silver Surfer colour and going the wrong angle LOL. Also have the German Grand Prix on in the background, which has been distracting me the last wee while.
Later peeps
Pauly
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