>>Furthermore...
The whole idea that shooting someone in the head will keep them from
triggering a bomb is absolutely without foundation in physical or biological
reality, and it's highly unlikely that any counterterrorism organization could
produce evidence that it makes a difference at all in the success rate of
their operations.<<
Which might or might not be true (I don't know much about biology), but it appears to be the case that the Israeli and Sri Lankan police do not, in fact, have a policy of immediately shooting suicide bombers on suspicion. The Israeli police in fact regularly take suicide bombers alive and disarm them of their belts; they do shoot people in the head but they do so very much as a last resort rather than a first resort and I strongly suspect that if Mr de Menezes had been grabbed by Israeli police he would have been alive today.
I'm very scared indeed that maybe the "policy introduced secretly in 2003" (oh thanks for fucking telling us guys) was not, in fact, introduced after detailed consultation with the Israeli and Sri Lankan police forces on tactics, rules of engagement and training, but was cobbled together by some junior tick who'd heard via a friend of a friend that "oh yeh, the Israelis, they go for the headshot don't they?". I have worked in government myself so I know that important things do get done in the most extraordinarily half-assed ways.
In related news, it turns out that the "heavy coat" that aroused the suspicion of the cops in the first place was a lightweight nylon fleece jacket, entirely suitable for what was actually a rather unseasonably cool day, and several eyewitnesses a) don't recall the police having identified themselves clearly when they drew their guns and b) suggest that Mr de Menezes was on the Tube train because he had been rugby-tackled onto it. The fact that nobody seems to be able to keep their story straight on this one is probably a result of the confusion arising from a panicked situation with no plan to deal with it rather than anything more sinister, but it's still worrying.
It looks very much to me as if someone had not been given clear orders and rules of engagement and panicked. This is understandable, although what I mean is that it is understandable in the same way that a surgeon removing the wrong kidney is understandable; it's not OK and it ought to be taken seriously to prevent reoccurrences. We were all pretty jumpy in London last Friday but only some of us were carrying guns.
best dd
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