Slashdot Mirror


Terrorist Murder In London Could Revive Snooper's Charter

judgecorp writes "Supporters of the Communications Data Bill (also known as the Snooper's Charter) have lost no time in calling for the Bill to be revived, in response to yesterday's brutal murder of a soldier on the streets of Woolwich, South London. The Bill would have allowed monitoring of all online communications — including who people contact and what websites they visit — but was shelved after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg opposed it, effectively splitting Britain's coalition government on the issue. Now the fear of new terrorism could rekindle support, based on the argument that even 'lone wolf' attackers use the Internet."

307 comments

  1. Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps I missed it, but how was this murder terrorism?

    1. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It was carried out to make a political statement by instilling fear. Are you dense?

    2. Re:Fear Mongering by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Perhaps I missed it, but how was this murder terrorism?

      Because of stupid, that's why. It's shamefully common round these parts.

      It's religiously motivated murder, just like Stepehen Lawrence was racially motivated murder. People ore only shouting "oe noes teh terrorists !!!11oneONE11!" because the murderer is muslim.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    3. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Really? How was the murder of a British soldier in the middle of the street in broad daylight by two individuals who were yelling "allahu akbar" and saying they were doing it for revenge against Brits for "murdering" muslims in "muslim countries" TERRORISM? Maybe you can visit http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/ and learn something... like that there have been over 20,000 terrorist attacks perpetrated by muslims in the name of islam SINCE 9/11/2001, that have left thousands dead and maimed?

      And how many more bodies will it take before fruitcakes like you stop claiming this was yet another "false flag" to besmirch the good name of "the religion of peace"?

    4. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh please. They attacked a soldier because he was a soldier, not because he was a Christian (if he even was a Christian).

      That makes this political. And even if it were for religious reasons would that make it any less terroristic in nature? I believe the basis of most terrorism of this nature has religious roots but ultimately it has political ties due to questions of governance and territory.

    5. Re:Fear Mongering by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It wasn't terrorism, it was an act of war. The UK and the US are at war, why are you so surprised when the war hits home? People are just fine with senseless random killings of muslims half a world away, but kill one white European....

      I'm absolutely not defending these people at all. I'm not fine with random killings on the street whether they are in the UK or Afghanistan. I'm just saying what they've done is no worse than our own public policy implemented by people we've elected. If you hate these people, you have to hate your own government, or be a hypocrit.

      If you think this act is horrible, this is what the Afghan people deal with all the time.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    6. Re:Fear Mongering by serviscope_minor · · Score: 0

      They attacked a soldier because he was a soldier

      And Stephen Lawrence was attacked because he was black. That makes his attackers still plain old murderers, not terrorists.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    7. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummm.... so? I never said anything about Stephen Lawrence. Stop trying to turn this into something that it's not. Why can't people around here stay on topic?

    8. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Because that area is rife with muslim hatred against everyone else and this has been brewing for a long time. The culprits also claimed it was a reaction to the wars being waged in their lands by us Westerners. In summary:

      1. religious based attack
      2. muslims killing non-muslim
      3. stated reason

      Perhaps if the West wasn't murdering civilians with their drones on a near daily basis, these two muslims might not have been so angry?

    9. Re:Fear Mongering by catchblue22 · · Score: 2

      Those who would trade their freedom for security deserve neither freedom nor security.

      Ben Franklin

      --
      This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
    10. Re:Fear Mongering by Xest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Dale Cregan shot and threw grenades at killing two police officers last year.

      Raul Moat before that hunted for and shot a police officer in the face after having just shot two other people and said he was starting a war with the police.

      Both of these were making political statements by attempting to instil fear, neither was classed as a terrorist incident.

      The only difference this time is that the perpetrators identified as muslim. The fact they were talking to and not harming everyone else that was around afterwards means they were arguably less effective at instilling fear than people like Dale Cregan was, so if this was terrorism why were other such incidents not?

      More realistically these seemed like a pair of London gangbangers desperate for a cause which they could use as an excuse to commit murder. They were not your usual middle eastern jihadis, they even quoted from the Christian bible which shows how poor their association with the jihadi ideology actually was.

      We'd be better off dealing with London's gang problem once and for all (the one that triggered the riots) than we would pratting around treating this as a terrorist incident and investing in the security service's ability to snoop - hint: they knew about these guys anyway using existing ability and still couldn't/didn't stop them.

    11. Re:Fear Mongering by Bongo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I was wondering about Sam Harris' argument in The End of Faith, basically that we have to go beyond irrationality if we're to survive, and that amongst all the world's faiths, Islam is at present the "worst" for various reasons -- there is no separation of Church and State, Islam is seen as a "complete system" (like communism or capitalism or whatever, ie. political power) and so on. One point he made as I recall, was that all the faiths have been weakened by modern secularism, and that's a good thing, but let's not forget they were weakened into being more peaceful. You can find all sorts of barbaric stuff in religions, although some histories were perhaps a bit more barbaric than others. The Grand Ayatollah Khomeini said that the West lies about Jesus saying "turn the other cheek" because, as the Ayatollah says, no true Prophet would ever be so stupid as to say such a stupid thing. Also Islam sees itself as inheriting the real truth, a truth that the Jews allowed to corrupt, and that the Christians allowed to corrupt, so the Islamic thing is to not allow it to be corrupted ie. don't modernise no matter what, remain pure. So there are variations and differences, and Harris thinks Islam is currently the worst offender, and the "peace" is actually only peace if you join the religion, be one of them, as it is monotheistic, One True God, no other way, only one right way, you're either with us or against us. The modern secular thing is, nobody has the real truth, let's enquire together and find stuff out. But in some Islamic schools, that is blasphemy. So it is complex. But how to respond when some "sick by Western standards" individuals gravitate towards the more murderous parts of certain ideologies? I guess the secular thing is to downplay religious intolerance and try to reaffirm, look, WE ALL WANT TO BE PEACEFUL. No to religious intolerance, no to religious hatred, no to hate. So called "terrorist" acts (are soldiers just a little more worried now when they walk out the gate? should they be? is that the intended effect? well, yeah) are there to incite hatred. People like that WANT to stir up hatred. And that's why we try to ignore them. But whether that will work in the long term, that's hard to see.

    12. Re:Fear Mongering by daveewart · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Terrorism(n.): When a white person is killed by a Muslim.

      --
      "If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it." --- Arthur Kasspe
    13. Re:Fear Mongering by Xest · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree this wasn't terrorism but it wasn't war either. These people have no association with Iraq or Afghanistan, it seems they were most probably British.

      That means it was not war. It was simple cold blooded violent murder and little else.

      I'm anti Iraq/Afghanistan war too, but let's not pretend these guys were fighting for some cause, they were just killers looking for an excuse to kill.

    14. Re:Fear Mongering by Anarchduke · · Score: 2, Insightful

      you mean Civil War? Because everyone involved was British.

      --
      who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
    15. Re:Fear Mongering by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 0

      If it's a violent act against a government actor, it's terrorism, so it deserves your liberties to be eradicated by that government.

      If it were 'just' violence against a little girl, it would be merely a statistic, not nearly as important (according to government actors).

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    16. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Glad you asked. 3 seconds of Googling shows this:

      The European Union defines terrorism for legal/official purposes in Art. 1 of the Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism (2002).[48] This provides that terrorist offences are certain criminal offences set out in a list consisting largely of serious offences against persons and property that; ...given their nature or context, may seriously damage a country or an international organisation where committed with the aim of: seriously intimidating a population; or unduly compelling a Government or international organisation to perform or abstain from performing any act; or seriously destabilising or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organisation.

    17. Re:Fear Mongering by IOIOIO · · Score: 1

      Terrorist murder: somebody who "murders" terrorists?

    18. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Fyi, there was not only NO separation of church and state in Norway until recently, we still have a significant tie between the two and christianity as a religion is still given special preference in our constitution.

      Look up Norway's situation wrt UNDP some time for context.

      State religion, capitalism, communism, monarchy, fascism are just fine if everyone is in on it and no-one gets stepped on. It's when the assholes get to set the agenda the whole thing collapses and a system of checks and balances is -- probably -- best. That can fail miserably too, however. Just look at the oligopoly that the US has become.

      tl;dr : It's not islam's "complete system" that is the problem, it's that they are religious fundamentalists hell-bent on destroying some weird devil image they have of the West. Not unlike what the West had with communism some decades ago.

    19. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They cut off his head in broad daylight. The barbarism mixed with the message makes it more than an ordinary murder.

    20. Re:Fear Mongering by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      These people have no association with Iraq or Afghanistan, it seems they were most probably British.

      We like to grow our own. "Made in Britain" is a rare thing to see these days, but at least some people are trying to keep things local.

      It was simple cold blooded violent murder and little else.

      Yes 100% yes.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    21. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They say the same thing.

      Except for the Muslim part, they use 'US lackey'.

    22. Re:Fear Mongering by Xest · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Right, and Dale Cregan shot one female police officer as she knocked on a door, and shot the other in the back as she ran away and then threw a grenade between the two of them whilst they were still alive and desperately trying to crawl away.

      You'll have to excuse me if I still don't exactly see the difference even when the level of barbarism is taken into account. Even Raul Moat walking up to a police officer whose sat pulled up in his car, sticking a shotgun in his face and pulling the trigger doesn't strike me as particularly free from barbarism.

      I agree none of these are ordinary murders, they're particularly extreme murders, but neither case is any more terrorism than the other. There was extreme barbarism in each case, and there was a message in each case.

    23. Re:Fear Mongering by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There were plenty of cases of Germans attacking the Third Reich, more obviously there were several attempts by Germans to assassinate Hitler. That didn't make WWII a civil war. Just an international war with some within the country opposed to it.

      For sure the Third Reich would have called it terrorism.

      Crime, Terrorism, Political act, Resistance, Freedom Fighting. All these things are a matter of perspective. Each using terms to mould the events to the way they see it.

      [Godwin smodwin]

      Which doesn't in any way mean I have any sympathy for the event in Woolwich, but equally I don't have any sympathy for the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. I abhor violence.

    24. Re:Fear Mongering by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      Did you see the footage on YouTube? Just moments after the attack the guy was talking to other members of the public, still holding the cleaver and covered in blood and people were just walking around oblivious.

      The only terrorism here is from the media hyping this up into fervor just to sell some headlines, and the politicians jumping all over this to further encroach into the lives of the general populace.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    25. Re:Fear Mongering by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      Why do you keep bringing up North Korea's ambition to take over the whole peninsula!??!?

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    26. Re:Fear Mongering by Bongo · · Score: 2

      Personally I'm not sure, but I was struck by Bernard Lewis' description that in Islam the moderate school said you have to reinterpret the Koran and Hadiths for moderns times, but the other school said, no, it doesn't matter how clever your interpretation is, if the other guys have more power then they can just kill you, so all that really matters is power, and actually the book wasn't written in an older period, thus "needing reinterpretation", it is actually "unwritten" and always exists as the true mind of Allah, so don't question it.

      So anyway, the latter group won. That was a thousand years ago.

    27. Re:Fear Mongering by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      I feel more free in an environment without guns. How does that fit into the quote?

    28. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or like what the West has today with Muslim countries.

      Maybe, just maybe, the religious fundamentalists are pissed that other nations are in their country, suppressing & killing their countrymen. And are willing to do something about it.

      Kind of like the British in the colonies, around 1773.

    29. Re:Fear Mongering by pesho · · Score: 0

      What a moron you are. This is not an act of war. It has no other purpose but institute fear. Random killings of Muslims is a very broad statement. Are you referring to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? As far as I can recall the general effort was to avoid random killings. I also recall couple of prosecutions of such killings. In fact most of the random killings in both places were preformed by muslims using the same terror tactics you just condoned to intimidate the local population or to eradicate the people not belonging to the same sect. If you are unhappy with the US/UK governments you are strongly encouraged to run for office or campaign for change following the low of the land. But justifying random killings is disgusting. As far as suffering of the muslim people, it is a bit single sided to accuse only US (which undoubtedly has a role in this). US and the West as a whole have been very good at defending their interest, quite unceremoniously I should say. They do it for the most part because they can. And the reason they have this ability is no small part due to their rapidly developing societies, where individuals take responsibility and participate in governance and do their best not to be encumbered by prejudice and religion. In case you are going to refer me to some extreme christian denominations, let me point out that they exist side by side with a host of other religions and their wings are quickly clipped off when they pass the line demarcating free speech from hate speech. Now in the light of this there is also other ways to defend you interest without random bombings or meat cleaver attacks. China is a good example of alternative strategy to the western world. Still even China's success is based on setting aside religious prejudice and focusing on technological advance.

    30. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think this act is horrible, this is what the Afghan people deal with all the time.

      The methods of conducting war employed by the foreign armed forces in Afghanistan do not legally include running over non-combatants in the street and then hacking them to death. You can argue (successfully in my opinion) against the need to prosecute those wars, but don't draw false equivalences - it clouds the debate considerably.

    31. Re:Fear Mongering by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Well terrorism is most commonly committed against ordinary civilians. And mostly random - bombs in public places being the most common act. So it often is against little girls.

      Targeting a soldier takes this one a bit closer to an act of war than terrorism usually is.

    32. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just look up the videos on this... But the solution of Snooper Charter is completely retarded as it targets everyone.

      What I propose is profiling. Why not just look at the typical profile of these criminals and target their places and activities? Why lump the entire population when you can narrow down your scope to the ones most likely to do this? I am sure existing laws can be used effectively to do this.

      Profiling works, just look at how insurance, banks and other institutions use it and apply it to security.

      Posting as AC for very obvious reasons.

    33. Re:Fear Mongering by thomasw_lrd · · Score: 1

      No that makes them racist terrorists.

    34. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Because that area is rife with muslim hatred against everyone else and this has been brewing for a long time. The culprits also claimed it was a reaction to the wars being waged in their lands by us Westerners. In summary:

      1. religious based attack
      2. muslims killing non-muslim
      3. stated reason

      Perhaps if the West wasn't murdering civilians with their drones on a near daily basis, these two muslims might not have been so angry?

      Wait a minute... let us look at WHY the west is hunting these people with drones... oh... now it makes sense, you know the whole terrorism thing... civilian casualties are regrettable but the real targets are worth killing.

    35. Re:Fear Mongering by misexistentialist · · Score: 1

      If it was just about killing, they could have killed more than one guy. The Western powers are indeed waging a war against Islamism on a global scale, so anyone subscribing to that ideology has to be a militant.

    36. Re:Fear Mongering by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      The quote doesn't say anything about guns, only freedom in general. But since you ask - you are a British subject, which says a lot. 100 years ago Britons were freer to own guns, and don't the crime statistics show lower crime then? I would guess your assessment would be that you would feel freer now than then despite the higher crime rate.

      I notice HM is guarded by people with guns. I've even read a report that she has been known to carry a Webley. Do you suppose she feels less free because of it? Do you feel less free because of it?

      Interesting that the terrorists had guns. (Isn't that theoretically impossible under current British law?) Apparently nobody but the police had one to stop them. Good thing they didn't decide to go on a bigger rampage - they would have been up against the defenseless. On the other hand, you feel free.

      Cheers

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    37. Re:Fear Mongering by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      You must have missed it. There is a popular political phrase that should offer some insight on this subject:
      "Never let a crisis go to waste."

      --
      Time to offend someone
    38. Re:Fear Mongering by Xest · · Score: 2

      They weren't killing for the sake of the love of the slaughter, they were killing for the same reason any other gangbanger kills - for "respect".

      These are people with nothing in their lives, bought up in violent neighbourhoods surrounded by knife and gun crime and frequent stabbings and sought fame in the only way these sorts of people know - more violence.

      The government and media has given them exactly what they wanted, they've published the mobile phone footage of them chatting before the police turned up, the government has made it a "terrorist" incident adding unjustified validity to their claim that they were sending a message. Now there will be extremists who will praise them for "joining their cause" and giving them respect for it.

      The fact they didn't kill others despite having had ample opportunity to do so demonstrates further why it wasn't terrorism. If it was terrorism they'd have killed innocent people too to, you know, spread terror. The fact they stood there talking to some woman shows that they just wanted to make the news, if it was about maximising terror, they'd have beheaded her too.

    39. Re:Fear Mongering by Bongo · · Score: 1

      But that's where I don't understand. Why do Muslims feel solidarity with all the world's Muslims? My understanding of secular modern life is, you don't identify with a religion or race or nationalism, you transcend that for identity with a humanistic world citizenry.

      Then within that you might think, gee those Quakers have a really nice practice around this or that, and those French have a really nice soup dish, and those Chinese have a really nice idea about respect for elders, and those Arabs have a really sweet sense of hospitality, and so on. But you don't brand yourself "X" and take the idea of X so seriously that you go off like a nutter in defence of X.

    40. Re:Fear Mongering by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Nobody cares how you 'feel'. Try thinking for once.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    41. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They arn't unified, there is a split that is about as deep and wide as the catholic/protastant scism with several othe minor factions like whabism that saudi arabia is ruled under.

    42. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So since these guys are soldiers, engaged in an act of war - you'd have no problem with them being turned over into military custody and held in a POW camp until cessation of hostilities, then?

      I mean, if they're soldiers, not civilians... they're subject to being treated as enemy soldiers: put in a POW camp, and held there, until the war ends and a peace treaty negotiates the peaceful turn-over of POWs by both sides.

      Now, flip the script: British soldier in Afghanistan carves up a random unarmed person on the street, with no existing threat or reasonable belief there is a threat to himself. You gonna write that off as "Hey, it's an act of war, why are people so surprised when an act of war results in someone dying? If you think this is horrible, you should see what somebody did to a British soldier in South London!" Or are you going to be howling for that soldier's head on a stake?

    43. Re:Fear Mongering by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      It was terrorism, treason, or both.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    44. Re:Fear Mongering by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Since the IRA also engaged in terrorism, there seems to be a flaw in your understanding.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    45. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Fine, a natural consequence of it is that civilian causalities will lead to retaliation, sometimes misguided.
      As long as you are OK with random civilian casualties in your home nation I don't mind your stance. (Unless you live in the same nation as I do, because then you are arguing for putting me, my family and friends at risk.)

    46. Re:Fear Mongering by Bongo · · Score: 2

      Yes true, but why does a guy identify as Muslim in one country and claim to be brother to an entirely different part of the world? The non-Muslim is seen as worse than the "we-didn't-quite-get-the-same-memo-about-who-was-in-charge-after-the-prophet" disagreement.

    47. Re:Fear Mongering by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Perhaps if the West wasn't murdering civilians with their drones on a near daily basis, these two muslims might not have been so angry?

      No, you've got it all wrong. You see, the Sunnis will be quite happy if you cheerfully massacre a few Shi'ites for them, and the Shi'ites won't consider it a big deal if you blow up a few Sunnis into the afterlife every now and then. You just have to be clever and concentrate on killing Muslims of only one of those two kinds, and then live in barracks close to the housings of the other kind, or otherwise you'll be meeting angry Muslims on the streets instead of the jubilating ones.

      Alternatively, both Sunnis and Shi'ites will pat you on the back and buy you a beer if you bring them a scalp of an Ahmadi. That's one of the few things they can agree upon.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    48. Re:Fear Mongering by Xest · · Score: 1

      "There were plenty of cases of Germans attacking the Third Reich, more obviously there were several attempts by Germans to assassinate Hitler. That didn't make WWII a civil war. Just an international war with some within the country opposed to it."

      This is absolutely true but the problem is that had those Germans assassinated people in their own country it would not have been an act of war but would've been murder.

      This is the fundamental distinction at play here, unless it's a civil war you cannot be a member of a country and kill your country men and it be an act of war, it by definition has to be murder. You may see other charges thrown in like "aiding the enemy" but it still can't be defined as an act of war and I believe that's the GP's point.

    49. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And a non muslim has tried to set a mosque with people in it alight.

      So that's a terrorist attack too?

      And how come this isn't a terrorist attack:
      http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/23/swedish-riots-stockholm

      Swedish riots rage for fourth night
      Stockholm riots
      Police attacked in Stockholm suburbs as protest against youth unemployment and poverty spreads

    50. Re:Fear Mongering by Hatta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is not an act of war. It has no other purpose but institute fear.

      Isn't that the purpose of warfare? To extract compliance from a population with the fear of death?

      If you are unhappy with the US/UK governments you are strongly encouraged to run for office or campaign for change following the low of the land.

      Seeing how most of the populace is OK with the wholesale slaughter of brown people from third world countries, I wouldn't have much of a chance.

      But justifying random killings is disgusting.

      I agree. I'm as disgusted by those who try to justify the war in Afghanistan as you are by this attack in the UK.

      it is a bit single sided to accuse only US

      Who accused only the US?

      They do it for the most part because they can.

      So, might makes right? Couldn't you justify this attack with the same logic?

      In case you are going to refer me to some extreme christian denominations

      You missed my point entirely. Our "moderate" public policy is *more extreme* than these militants. Far, far more innocent people have died at the hands of westerners in Afghanistan than have died at the hands of jihadists in the west.

      Now in the light of this there is also other ways to defend you interest without random bombings

      Great, now tell the US and UK so we can defend our interests with less violence.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    51. Re:Fear Mongering by shilly · · Score: 2

      You're wrong about "British subjects", which says a lot about you. You are overconfident with your facts. It takes all of a few seconds on the Web for you to check them before you hit post.

      If you believe there are valid comparable crime statistics from today and 100 years ago, and that you can isolate all other changes in British society apart from gun ownership in your analysis, do go ahead and post it. I fancy a laugh.

      The comment about the Queen is risible. A frequent trope of interviews with people who have had armed bodyguards is about the restrictions on their freedom that this entails. It might be necessary, because the alternative is worse, but it's hardly more free than not requiring armed bodyguards in the first place.

      It is not theoretically impossible under British law for those men to have held guns, although I doubt they were held legally. Again, this is a simple fact that would have taken you seconds to discover if you'd have bother using the web.

      As well as getting your facts wrong, your logic is pretty shoddy too. You're focused on people being defenceless. I'm focused on the fact that most criminals in Britain don't use guns in their crimes, and so there are far fewer gun deaths and gun woundings than there are in other countries where guns are more prevalent. Plus, obviously, the rate of accidental gun deaths and woundings is tiny, and the rate of deaths due to incompetent attempts to use guns to defend against attackers or perceived attackers is again tiny. You're looking the wrong way through the telescope. If you do that with a telescope, I hope you don't have a rifle with a sniper scope, or things are apt to end very messily.

    52. Re:Fear Mongering by slim · · Score: 1, Insightful

      No, it's terrorism.

      Terrorism is the act of publicising your cause by making people afraid to go about their normal lives.

      The whole point of the IRA bombing shopping centres, hotels and pubs was that it would impact how people lived, and keep the Irish Republican cause in the news. "Shall we go for a booze-up in Birmingham this weekend?" "Oh, hmm, bit worried about getting killed by a bomb."

      These guys committed their murder in broad daylight, then waited around for the cameraphones to come out. Then did what appears to be a rehearsed speech, outlining their grievance, and then saying (approximately) "What are you going to do when we come out with our guns? None of you is safe. Next time it will be you, or your children."

      They want us to believe (I don't) that there's an army of people like them, who will follow up with more attacks like this. That is specifically designed to terrify, and that's what terrorism is.

    53. Re:Fear Mongering by Hatta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Now, flip the script: British soldier in Afghanistan carves up a random unarmed person on the street, with no existing threat or reasonable belief there is a threat to himself.

      That's exactly what happens all the time. Except the knife is a drone.

      Or are you going to be howling for that soldier's head on a stake?

      Either both should have their heads on a stake or neither. There are good cases to be made for either. I don't see any good argument that the acts are essentially different and deserve to be treated differently.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    54. Re:Fear Mongering by Laxori666 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I missed it, but, uh, did this actually happen? Look at the video of one of the supposed-attackers after-the-supposed-fact.

      a) Why is the supposed knife he is holding blurred out?
      b) Why does he look so damn calm?
      c) Why is nobody else freaking out? An old lady just walks right in front of the guy who supposedly just murdered a guy and still has blood on his hands. Two young girls go up to him and try talking to him. Is that a reasonable thing to do with a still-bleeding corpse on the ground not a few feet away from the guy who just killed him?

      I'm just left thinking 'wtf?'

    55. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Wait a minute... let us look at WHY the west is hunting these people with drones... oh... now it makes sense, you know the whole terrorism thing... civilian casualties are regrettable but the real targets are worth killing.

      Fine, a natural consequence of it is that civilian causalities will lead to retaliation, sometimes misguided.

      It is not a "natural" consequence. Someone has to say that retaliation is acceptable. Someone has to say that this particular kind of retaliation is acceptable. Someone has to say that it is time to carry out the retaliation. Somebody has to actually carry out the retaliation. There is leadership and organization.

      The US killed a huge number of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki without facing increasing terrorism in US cities, or any at all. This disproves the notion that terrorism is a natural response to the killing of civilians.

    56. Re:Fear Mongering by jd.schmidt · · Score: 1

      Actually there is NO definition for terrorism. I mention this because it is part of the problem. As of now, something is terrorism simply because someone claims it is.

      The story behind why this is the case is actually very important and one you should know about. To make a long story short, the definition would be "use of military force against civilians by a non-state actor to advance political goal" (vs. simple crime), note this would make all hate crimes terrorism, and what is the difference anyway. A State actor would be a different crime, violation of rules of war or genocide, both arguably more serious. The problem is everyone wants to put in exceptions for some cause or group they support. This isnâ(TM)t totally unreasonable, think French Freedom fighters against the Nazis. But once you state making exceptions things start going downhill fast.

      I think there would be a benefit to having sort of a non-state Geneva convention. Of course such groups wouldnâ(TM)t care, but States could be held accountable for supporting forces in violation of these rules. The Geneva convention hasnâ(TM)t prevented ALL war crimes by nations, but setting out rules has proven to be a good starting point. An open discussion about how non-state actors should be allowed to conduct themselves would benefit us all.

    57. Re: Fear Mongering by LordofWinterfell · · Score: 1

      In any of the recent armed attacks in the US, were there any armed Americans whipping out their pistols to stop them?

      I think the whole hero-cowboy-shoot-em-up are just daydreams that castrated white men dream up trying to reclaim their power in modern society. There are always a few examples, but most gun-owners aren't running to their closets to help police do their job.

      --
      Winter is Coming.
    58. Re:Fear Mongering by tqk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ... civilian casualties are regrettable ...

      Can we value human life any less? The massacre of innocent *non-combattants* is "regrettable"? Anyone who thinks like this has lost the right to be considered civilized. You shed crocodile tears. I will not regret your demise, nor shed any tears for the likes of you.

      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    59. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The parent poster never said he didn't consider Cregan a terrorist, so I assume you are not arguing with him but with your own perceived impression (which I share) that they are generally not considered so.

      Well I don't know much about the Dale Cregan case besides the fact that he killed two policeman, never heard he was politically motivated to did so (I'm not claiming he wasn't), but Raul Moat on the other I can confidently say he wasn't a terrorist. He was mentally instable, and killed his ex's new boyfriend after being released from prison. Then he did start a policeman-hunt, but It wasn't politically motivated at all, it was more rage induced if anything (he didn't ask for anything, he just said he'll kill policemen till his last day).

      In that sense, I think that what happened in London is closer to Raul Moat than to Madrid's 11M or London's 7/7, but fairly enough The killer himself declares that they were targeting the soldiers because of the British involvement in (I think) Afghanistan. That's a self declared terrorist. That's what he said, but still I consider that he was most likely just searching for an excuse for their rage, given the lack of depth of his argumentation.

    60. Re:Fear Mongering by BasilBrush · · Score: 2

      100 years ago Britons were freer to own guns

      That doesn't mean that there was widespread ownership of guns 100 years ago. There wasn't. There was widespread ownership of shotguns amongst farmers, and the relatively small number of gamekeepers. But that was probably about it. No notable ownership of guns in urban areas.

      As to crime statistics it's impossible to say. There was no comprehensive collection of crime statistics 100 years ago. Certainly not that you could compare with today's statistics.

      I notice HM is guarded by people with guns. I've even read a report that she has been known to carry a Webley.

      The Queen's politics are strictly speaking unknown, though you can guess, but she certainly is part of the hunting and shooting fraternity. Never heard a rumour about "a Webley" specifically. Obviously she doesn't carry a gun for personal protection, but I'm pretty sure she's hunted with one.

      But what has the views of Britain's most untypical person got to do with anything?

      Interesting that the terrorists had guns. (Isn't that theoretically impossible under current British law?)

      It certainly makes it difficult.

      They had a single gun between two of them. There are conflicting reports of whether it was fired at all. So I'm not yet sure if it was a real gun, and if so whether it was loaded. Criminals in Britain sometimes use replica firearms to frighten people because they are easier to get hold of.

      They killed the soldier by running him down with a car, then finishing him off with meat cleavers. Which suggests their access to guns/ammunition wasn't so great.

      So what's the difference between this and America? In America they wouldn't have found it difficult to source real pistols or semi-automatic guns, at least one each, and plenty of ammunition and kill a whole group of people, and not just one.

      It's a big "terrorist" incident here. But just one person died.

      I'm surprised you thought it was a good idea to bring it up. because it certainly does nothing to help the gun-freedom argument.

    61. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From the point of view of Extremist Islamist (which I even doubt this guys were), nationality is secondary, their fidelity is with God and their Muslim Brothers. So, again from that point of view, it's not a civil war, it's just a Yihad.

    62. Re:Fear Mongering by daveewart · · Score: 1

      Since the IRA also engaged in terrorism, there seems to be a flaw in your understanding

      You misunderstand. That definition is not "my understanding". It's the apparent definition that The Media and The Authorities seem to be adhering to.

      --
      "If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it." --- Arthur Kasspe
    63. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People are just fine with senseless random killings of muslims half a world away

      [citation needed]

      If the UK were engaging in senseless random killings of Muslims, that would be in the news and people would be court martialed.

    64. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there is a very specific terrorism definition in the UK under the Terroism Act 2000

      (1) In this Act "terrorism" means the use or threat of action where-
      (a) the action falls within subsection (2),
      (b) the use or threat is designed to influence the government [or an international governmental organisation][2] or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and
      (c) the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious [, racial][3] or ideological cause.
      (2) Action falls within this subsection if it-
      (a) involves serious violence against a person,
      (b) involves serious damage to property,
      (c) endangers a person's life, other than that of the person committing the action,
      (d) creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or
      (e) is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.
      (3) The use or threat of action falling within subsection (2) which involves the use of firearms or explosives is terrorism whether or not subsection (1)(b) is satisfied.

    65. Re:Fear Mongering by Mashiki · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Why do Muslims feel solidarity with all the world's Muslims? My understanding of secular modern life is...

      Short answer: Because with muslims, they're muslims first and last. Anything else is non-relevant, oh and secular modern life is haram, much like free speech in most cases. Especially with the rise of islamo-fascism. Never mind that the UK has quite a problem with muslims, I mean "asians" and their sex grooming gangs too. Well whatever, they'd rather turn to political correctness over an issue then look at the actual problem.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    66. Re:Fear Mongering by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      The murderer made statements before hand saying that his murder was for political reasons. Under the terrorism act, those statements make his act an act of terrorism.

      I agree that this should be treated as a mad lunatic who needs to be locked up for public safety, just like any other axe weilding lunatic.

    67. Re:Fear Mongering by sa1lnr · · Score: 1

      Because not all gun ownership is illegal in the UK

    68. Re:Fear Mongering by Bongo · · Score: 1

      It plays on the uncertainty that nobody can predict how far it will spread. If we all believed it was just a couple of guys then it can be dismissed as just another deranged murder. But if we are told by the killers themselves, we are fighting for Muslim brothers, and we are getting revenge and tomorrow it could be you, then that plants the fear. Whether we subscribe to it is another matter. But it plants the seed: you can try to ignore us, but how do you know there aren't going to be hundreds like us soon?

      In a sense they are doing what we're all being told not to do -- brand a whole religion, accuse a whole religion of potential violence. But that's their stated goal, to make you think that they are just the start of a billion Muslims saying "enough is enough" and all fighting for their brothers and sisters.

      People saying, "oh no don't brand a whole religion" are not really helping, because that was already done by the "terrorists", and it looks like trying to play down the act whilst not stopping further such acts. Rather than defend Islam, it would be more interesting to see people restate their allegiance to the UK, to Europe, to America, to the Western way of life, heck to Tellytubbies and Benny Hill reruns, anything that would feel British, rather than defending the thing the "terrorists" were defending.

    69. Re:Fear Mongering by professionalfurryele · · Score: 1

      It's Britain. We're used to terrorism. I remember after the 7/7 bombings one of the more popular jokes in the immediate aftermath was 'so Al Qaeda made the underground late, Ken Livingstone has been doing that for years and he doesn't even need bombs.'. Honestly I'm amazed no one offered these guys a cup of tea.

    70. Re:Fear Mongering by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/section/1 defines terrorism

      It must (a) involve and action which falls under subsection 2 of the act [violence against the person, damage to property etc, it does no dispute about that]
      (b) the threat is designed to influence the government or international governmental organisation or intimidate the public etc
      and (c) be for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, radical or ideological cause

      Did Raul Moat intend to influence the government or intimidate the public? Maybe but it is a difficult one to prove
      Was he trying to advance a political religious etc cause? Not really
      That just leaves (a), violence against the person, and there are other laws dealing with people who do that for non-terrorist reasons.

    71. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's exactly what happens all the time. Except the knife is a drone.

      And yet I've yet to see you saying about those instances, "hey it's just war, people die, this shit happens, it's all just acts of war," like you are with this.

      Either both should have their heads on a stake or neither. There are good cases to be made for either. I don't see any good argument that the acts are essentially different and deserve to be treated differently.

      But you ARE treating them differently . Drone strike kills someone: "Oh god, this is horrible, these people should be thrown in jail for war crimes." Militants murder a soldier on a city street: "Hey, it's just an act of war, these things happen, it shouldn't come as a surprise."

      I notice you avoided answering the main question I posed, so I'll ask it again: Since it's a simple act of war, are you saying, by extension, that you'd be fine with these guys being shipped off to a POW camp such as Guantanamo, and held there until the cessation of hostilities? After all - they're soldiers, no different than the British soldier they killed, right? And if they're captured conducting an act of war, they should be held as Prisoners of War, right? If not, why not? And if not, how do you manage to believe you're arguing for "even-handed" treatment of the acts?

    72. Re:Fear Mongering by jd.schmidt · · Score: 1

      Of course I was speaking internationally, but still your post is very interesting. I didn't know England had a domestic definition.

      Do you know if the U.S. has one as well?

    73. Re:Fear Mongering by mbone · · Score: 1

      There were plenty of cases of Germans attacking the Third Reich, more obviously there were several attempts by Germans to assassinate Hitler. That didn't make WWII a civil war. Just an international war with some within the country opposed to it.

      For sure the Third Reich would have called it terrorism.

      The Germans in World War II routinely referred to the resistance in the various occupied countries as terrorists.

    74. Re:Fear Mongering by 0123456 · · Score: 1

      No notable ownership of guns in urban areas.

      Do you actually know anything about British history?

      Because if there was 'no notable ownership of guns in urban areas', how come the police a hundred years ago could often manage to borrow guns from those people who didn't own any when they were chasing armed criminals?

    75. Re:Fear Mongering by BasilBrush · · Score: 2

      Do you actually know anything about British history?...how come the police a hundred years ago could often manage to borrow guns from those people who didn't own any when they were chasing armed criminals?

      Was your knowledge of British History gleaned from Miss Marple whodunnits?

    76. Re:Fear Mongering by phorm · · Score: 1

      Yes, so it was a more twisted/sick murder than usual.
      However, it's not any worse than this murder in Canada, and that wasn't terrorism either.

    77. Re: Fear Mongering by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      From orbit; it's the only way to be sure. Do it TWICE (double tap) just to make damn sure.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    78. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But you ARE treating them differently . Drone strike kills someone: "Oh god, this is horrible, these people should be thrown in jail for war crimes." Militants murder a soldier on a city street: "Hey, it's just an act of war, these things happen, it shouldn't come as a surprise."

      He didn't mean that and you know it, imbecile.

    79. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Fair enough. That means we have to kill them _all_.

      Not just them - you'll have to take me and every other human with an ounce of decency as well, or we'll hang you before you finish...

    80. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They killed a soldier, and they knew he was a soldier. Are you telling me that our soldiers won't kill enemy soldiers just because they don't happen to be fighting at the time we attack them?

    81. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really?

      Hatta may be many things, but inarticulate is not one of the things I'd accuse him of being.

      If he didn't mean to say "It wasn't terrorism, it was an act of war. The UK and the US are at war, why are you so surprised when the war hits home? People are just fine with senseless random killings of muslims half a world away, but kill one white European...", then why did he say that?

    82. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I for one wouldn't have a problem with these killers being put in a POW camp.

    83. Re: Fear Mongering by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      In any of the recent armed attacks in the US, were there any armed Americans whipping out their pistols to stop them?

      The government prohibited legally-armed Americans from being present through "gun-free zones" in the majority of cases. The armed citizen that was present at Gabby Gifford's shooting withheld firing because of the danger to bystanders...which argues against the "wild shootout with mass innocent casualties" scenario typically trotted-out.

      I think the whole hero-cowboy-shoot-em-up are just daydreams that castrated white men dream up trying to reclaim their power in modern society.

      I disagree. You're not thinking. Just the opposite. You're emoting.

      There are always a few examples, but most gun-owners aren't running to their closets to help police do their job.

      You are correct here, as the job of the police is NOT to protect you, the individual citizen. The SCOTUS ruled that police have no duty to protect. They catch the bad guys after a crime is committed. The "protection" part is each individual's responsibility.

      I'll just leave this here for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa-lNiIDsFM

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    84. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that's where I don't understand. Why do Muslims feel solidarity with all the world's Muslims? My understanding of secular modern life is, you don't identify with a religion or race or nationalism, you transcend that for identity with a humanistic world citizenry.

      Funniest damn thing I've read all day! Especially to put on /.

      Even on here, with a horde of people who have spent their lives being persecuted by 'groups', just for not being 'X' (as you put it) - people still get hot-blooded when you offend the sensibilities of their 'group'.

      Whether it's the US vs the rest of the world;
      Apple fanboys vs the rest of the world;
      Linux fanboys vs ... um.. the rest of the world again;
      Christians vs atheists/secularists;
      Israelis vs ... oh, the rest of the world again;
      Laser-pointer enthusiasts vs amateur pilots etc.;
      PC gamers vs console gamers;
      That hosts file troll vs /. mods;
      Libertarians vs libertarians vs republicans vs conservatives vs democrats vs ...............

      The list goes on further than I care to type - and that's just on this tiny corner of the bloody internet. In the real world I don't think it would be possible to even finish the list because new 'groups' are being formed faster than anybody could list them - and the list itself would create 'groups' arguing over items on the list, in some kind of recursive hell of shit-slinging (I know for a fact that if anyone actually replies to this post, it will be purely to critique one of my list items).

      Don't even try to pretend that any of these arguments carry more weight than the one over whose imaginary friend is better, or whose country could kick the other countries arse, or which fucking colour is better than the others (race, religion and nationality for those too frothy at the mouth to follow me) - because inevitably each one will descend into rabid extremism, as anything must do when the two sides are composed of emotional, passionate people who invested varying degrees of their lives into one and more of these 'groups'.

      If you genuinely can't think of a time where you have descended to this level yourself, then either you have lived a hermits life, encountering no-one who would disagree with you - or you have the emotional capacity of a total sociopath.

    85. Re:Fear Mongering by denzacar · · Score: 1

      From TFA:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10519166

      The 49-page handwritten letter allegedly sent to police by Moat, which was also handed to The Sun newspaper, said: "Last night I called 999 and declared war on Northumbria Police before shooting an officer on the West End A69 roundabout in his T5.

      "Rang again and told them they're gonna pay for what they've done to me and Sam.

      "I went straight but they couldn't let it go.

      "The public need not fear me but the police should as I won't stop till I'm dead."

      First off, full quote for "b" is:

      (b)the use or threat is designed to influence the government [F1or an international governmental organisation]F1 or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and

      ... and it's not "radical" but "racial" under "c".

      His explanation for "declaring war" covers the ideological cause under "c".
      "A" being covered, threatening the police covers "b" as intention to influence the government (police being a government organization and a vital part of government's justice system) AND "a section of the public" - police officers and their families being a section of said public.

      Not that "b" or "c" really matters because:

      (2)Action falls within this subsection if itâ"

      (a) involves serious violence against a person,
      (b) involves serious damage to property,
      (c) endangers a personâ(TM)s life, other than that of the person committing the action,
      (d) creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or
      (e) is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.

      (3)The use or threat of action falling within subsection (2) which involves the use of firearms or explosives is terrorism whether or not subsection (1)(b) is satisfied.

      I.e. You don't have to try to influence the government or public.
      Simply threatening to endanger lives (or say, disrupting "an electronic system") with guns and/or explosives is good enough to be classified as a terrorist act.

      I.e. Moat calling in a threat already made his action a terrorist act, even before killing police officers.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    86. Re:Fear Mongering by Hatta · · Score: 1

      What I meant was that every such act of war is horrible. If you are horrified by what happened in the UK, you should be a hundred times more horrified by what the UK and US have done in Afghanistan. I'm not trying to justify their acts, I'm trying to show how unjustifiable this war is. War is just terrorism commited by the state.

      As for your question about POW status. If they are foreigners, then that's probably the right way to classify them. If they are citizens, then they probably should get a trial. Not because they deserve a trial, but because a government that can imprison its own citizens indefinitely without trial is more dangerous than any foreign enemy.

      Remember, the objection to Guantanamo is not the indefinite detention of prisoners of war. It's that many of the inhabitants were not combatants at all, and those that were were not held in accordance with the Geneva conventions.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    87. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IMHO, the identification as Muslims first is the result of socio/religous upbringing. Do Jews identify themselves any differently... though their reactions have been, compared to Muslims, muted.
      the threat, perceived or real, against a core self belief aggravates the situation. Lack of education, perpetuates the belief. In the end the economic stress is required to maintain the status quo of power.

    88. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you mad-hatta you
      i bow to your reasoning.

    89. Re:Fear Mongering by tqk · · Score: 1

      If you think this act is horrible, this is what the Afghan people deal with all the time.

      The methods of conducting war employed by the foreign armed forces in Afghanistan do not legally include running over non-combatants in the street and then hacking them to death.

      No they don't, but that's irrelevant. The bombers massacreing civillians with IUDs in Taliban/Sunni/Shiite sectarian violence is what the Afghans and Iraqis have to deal with all the time.

      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    90. Re:Fear Mongering by cavreader · · Score: 2

      There were no civilians in WW2. It was a strict "us against them" fight to the death. Every side in WW2 killed millions of people towards that end. If you are going to go to war that is the only way it should be done. When WW2 was over their was no ambiguity about who won and who lost. Today's wars kill a lot of people and create havoc but in the end have little effect on the behavior of the belligerents. Both Germany and Japan were beating so bad that running an insurgency campaign was the last thing on anyone's mind.

    91. Re:Fear Mongering by KGIII · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I was doing a little research for a question below and wanted to make sure that I had the facts before posting (a sin, I know) but it did lead me to an interesting article.

      What definition of the term includes this horrific act of violence but excludes the acts of the US, the UK and its allies?
      http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/23/woolwich-attack-terrorism-blowback

      It is worth reading and made me think a bit. That's always a good thing, right? So, I recalled reading some comments about it up-thread and figured I'd share the link with you as you too may find it interesting. One of the good things about the internet is that it enables people to bring questions like this to the forefront and enables us to discuss and learn. For those of us who recall the pre-internet days the contrast is startling.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    92. Re:Fear Mongering by Jhon · · Score: 0

      "Can we value human life any less? The massacre of innocent *non-combattants* is "regrettable"? Anyone who thinks like this has lost the right to be considered civilized. You shed crocodile tears. I will not regret your demise, nor shed any tears for the likes of you."

      How do you handle aggressors who hide among civilians?

      If in a foreign country, you demand the government do something about controlling their people. If they cannot, what do you do? Do you go in and "do something about it" yourself? or do you resign your peoples to being targeted and killed without recourse?

      Sometimes civilian/non-combatant death is unavoidable if this is how the aggressors operate.

      Anyone who is unwilling to take out someone deliberately targeting YOU (as your your country, etc) has effectively placed a target on their back -- and by your standards, being "civilized" leads to "death".

    93. Re:Fear Mongering by Synerg1y · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Based on that logic, anybody who decides to commit a crime, can write a memo stating that they're doing it for jihad before they do it and become a terrorist?

      I'm with OP this is fear mongering by the media, won't stop the sheeple from crying terrorism and whatever else the media tells them though!

    94. Re:Fear Mongering by mc6809e · · Score: 1

      Fair enough. That means we have to kill them _all_.

      Nah. You just have to kill their philosophy by shaking their faith.

      Sometimes that does mean killing the true-believers, but there are other ways.

    95. Re:Fear Mongering by Synerg1y · · Score: 1

      What's the alternative? We send soldiers in instead of drones and suddenly the soldiers are getting killed... by who? people who hate us.

      Nobody in the army is proud of killing civilians I'm sure, but soldiers are just as likely to inflict collateral (calling in a plane to blow up a building), and can't be fixed and rebuilt like drones.

    96. Re:Fear Mongering by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      We'll own their kids with MTV middle east. Their grandchildren will behave in ways that would make the gayest emo kid blush.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    97. Re: Fear Mongering by techneeks · · Score: 1

      so when we are done with the muslims we'll have no one but the jews to mess with... boring.. we did that already

    98. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The victim was a soldier, on active duty (according to the BBC). It is very possible that person was in fact a terrorist. He or she could easily have done acts designed to instill fear in other people; however chances are that he/she was acting on their own is unlikely. Thus, a terrorist and a member of an active cult that tries to suppress and scare the public was subdued by a political activist. It seems pretty clear to me.

    99. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, Mohammedan/Dhimmi troll!!! They can go about murdering any infidels, but we have to keep letting them into our countries. FUCK OFF!!!

    100. Re:Fear Mongering by bfandreas · · Score: 1

      Having listened to those two I do have to concur.
      Those two are prime examples of a first class moron. Homicidal morons, which is the only thing that truly distinguished them. They didn't have one coherent original thought between them. And they spoke in macros like lolcats. They even botched that. For the first time you get to hear them speak themselves. If you ever wondered what kind of moron falls for hate rhetoric, look no further.
      Consider this proposition: We'll give you this belt loaded with explosives. For free. All we ask of you is that you put it on and release this button when we tell you. If you would please just go over there. A bit further. Further still. Yes, yes, paradise will be awesome.

      In many ways they remind me of those two middle-class schoolboys who blew up the Boston marathon out of a vague feeling of disappointment with the American Dream. The younger ran over his brother while making a dash for it with his car.
      Terrorist is too big a word for them. They are homicidal idiots and that's what they are. There's a difference between spending years in preparation and practice like the 9/11 guys did. It only takes a sick mind and a special brand of idiocy to attack somebody with knives.
      What's really sad is that those two morons triggered other morons to attack people who had nothing to do with them employing the same impeccable logic that triggered that attack on that Sikh temple because they obviously were hate-mongering muslims.

      It's like a big circle-jerk that didn't quite happen because the participants couldn't find each others dicks.

      You may choose to feel terrorized but I will stick with contempt and disgust.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    101. Re:Fear Mongering by scarboni888 · · Score: 1

      "The methods of conducting war employed by the foreign armed forces in Afghanistan do not legally include running over non-combatants in the street and then hacking them to death."

      It does include night raids of non-combatants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narang_night_raid) and bombings of weddings (http://www.dailypaul.com/282037/30-killed-in-afghan-wedding-party-us-bomb-missed-target) though. Just because it's more high tech doesn't make it any different.

    102. Re:Fear Mongering by vux984 · · Score: 1

      "use of military force against civilians by a non-state actor to advance political goal"

      Ah, well then this wasn't terroism because it was force against a member of the military. He wasn't in uniform, but he was a solider, and the attackers knew he was a solider, and selected him because he was a soldier. I guess from their perspective that makes him a legitimate enemy combatant? And sadly its more discerning than our own definition which labels as enemy combatant as "all males of military age in the attack zone". (Talk about a self serving definition.)

      And as has been said so many times now, we can't act surprised when people try to kill us in our country, when we try to kill them in their country. That doesn't justify their attacks on us, but it serves as a reminder that they can't justify our attacks on them either.

    103. Re:Fear Mongering by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I think the fear is that if it's muslim then there's some secret shadowy organization that supports them, and that there must be more of these sleeper cells that we need to uncover. Whereas if it's just Rob from down the street then he's just a nutter.

    104. Re:Fear Mongering by Chelloveck · · Score: 1

      No, it's terrorism. Terrorism is the act of publicising your cause by making people afraid to go about their normal lives.

      Okay, I'll accept your definition. You're right, it's terrorism.

      But so what? Why should a murder committed in the name of scaring people be any different from a murder committed for any other reason? It's a murder. Yes, it's a particularly grisly one, with a ton of video evidence and a confession. So it should be easy to try the guy and lock him up... for murder.

      I think we (society in general, not any particular country or government) do ourselves a great disservice when we label some crimes as "terrorism". Doing so sets these crimes apart from others, glorifies them, spreads the terror. I agree that the goal of terrorism is to spread fear. So fight back. Deny them that victory! Treat any and all terror attacks as ordinary crime. Report on it as a crime, try it as a crime. Take away terrorism's leverage by responding to the act instead of the motivation.

      Terrorism loses its power when we refuse to be terrified.

      --
      Chelloveck
      I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
    105. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All the biblical prophets are also seen as prophets by Islam, including Jesus.

      So you're saying that Jesus is a muslim?

    106. Re:Fear Mongering by BeardedChimp · · Score: 2

      Bollocks. Modded you redundant instead of insightful. This guardian article also follows my views pretty closely.

    107. Re:Fear Mongering by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Was your knowledge of British History gleaned from Miss Marple whodunnits?

      It might have been gathered from the newspapers. . .

      From: Ottawa Citizen, January 17, 1977
      Bobbies borrow guns to blast fugitive

      RAINOW, England (AP) - Police cornered and killed an escaped prisoner who fled across snow-covered moorlands holding a woman hostage at knifepoint after allegedly killing four members of her family.

      Police said the escapee, William Hughes, 30, was shot to death Friday night after the stolen car he was driving crashed into a wall at a police roadblock.

      Some of the policemen earlier had to arm themselves with guns borrowed from residents of this central English village.

      There's only one way to protect ourselves – and here's the proof

      Today, 96 years ago, London was rocked by a terrorist outrage. Two Latvian anarchists, who had crossed the Channel after trying to blow up the president of France, attempted an armed wages robbery in Tottenham. Foiled at the outset when the intended victims fought back, the anarchists attempted to shoot their way out.

      A dramatic pursuit ensued involving horses and carts, bicycles, cars and a hijacked tram. The fleeing anarchists fired some 400 shots, leaving a policeman and a child dead, and some two dozen other casualties, before they were ultimately brought to bay. They had been chased by an extraordinary posse of policemen and local people, armed and unarmed. Along the way, the police (whose gun cupboard had been locked, and the key mislaid) had borrowed at least four pistols from passers-by in the street, while other armed citizens joined the chase in person.

      Today, when we are inured to the idea of armed robbery and drive-by shootings, the aspect of the "Tottenham Outrage" that is most likely to shock is the fact that so many ordinary members of the public at that time should have been carrying guns in the street. Bombarded with headlines about an emergent "gun culture" in Britain now, we are apt to forget that the real novelty is the notion that the general populace in this country should be disarmed.

      . . . A century ago, the possession and carrying of firearms was perfectly normal here. Firearms were sold without licence in gunshops and ironmongers in virtually every town in the country, and grand department stores such as Selfridge's even offered customers an in-house range. The market was not just for sporting guns: there was a thriving domestic industry producing pocket pistols and revolvers, and an extensive import trade in the cheap handguns that today would be called "Saturday Night Specials". . . . Beatrix Potter's journal records a discussion at a small country hotel in Yorkshire, where it turned out that only one of the eight or nine guests was not carrying a revolver. . .

      Now I'm curious, from where do you learn your British history? It seems to be an incomplete source.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    108. Re:Fear Mongering by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      From skimming the article I got the impression that they stated that random civilians will continue to die until the troops are called home.
      That is a textbook case of terrorism.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    109. Re:Fear Mongering by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      "For sure the Third Reich would have called it terrorism."

      But they would've been completely wrong. Most words actually have useful definition, just most people are not literate enough to know them.

      Attacking a state's power/military/police/politicians in the open and/or head to head is absolutely not terrorism. Terrorism is attacking civilians to try and change the government. It is the use of fear instead of guile or strength to win.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    110. Re:Fear Mongering by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      Muslim + crime == terrorism.

      When a straight white male commits a crime, whether it's big and atrocious, or it's indistinguishable from a random piece of street crime, nobody will ever assume that there is such a thing as straight white male terrorism, and hence lump you in with him. This is yet another reason why I'm happy that I'm a straight white male.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    111. Re:Fear Mongering by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      The (incorrect, but let's run with it) claim that Columbus is credited as discovering America does not imply the claim that Columbus was American. HTH

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    112. Re:Fear Mongering by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      But they would've been completely wrong. Most words actually have useful definition [...]

      ...but those definitions change considerably over time. You can't retrofit the modern definition onto events happening 70 years ago.

      If it helps, remember that the first historical use of "terror" to describe political violence was the Reign of Terror.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    113. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there is a split or stereo type of what a terrorist is, just because a group of idiot law enforcement agencies, politicians, government in general define it as a law means shit. obviously anyone that is Muslim and commits a crime of killing, or attempted killing is dubbed a terrorist, if they even look mid eastern but practice a different religion other the Muslim they are a terrorist.

      I have heard the word used with Outlaw biker gangs, but never heard it used with black, or Latin gangs in North America, unless of course ethnic groups are of Muslim beliefs.

      The title comment subject Fear Mongering, is right. Instill fear into every idiot, becuase there are more then enough, lead by the usual shit stains known as the press/media.

    114. Re:Fear Mongering by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      The killer very clearly expounded the reasons for the killing, including references to British foreign policies in "muslim lands" and "an eye for an eye", while holding the bloody knife and cleaver in his red hands. The obvious intent of this statement, which was made to the camera immediately after the killing so that it would be recorded and seen by the entire world, was to intimidate and effect political change through fear of more violence if those changes desired by the terrorist and his confederates were not made. If that's not the very definition of terrorism, I don't know what is.

    115. Re:Fear Mongering by CodeBuster · · Score: 0

      I would say that the difference between those crimes and the one being discussed here was in the intent. There can be no doubt that the intent of the man who killed the British soldier in London was to intimidate the society at large into changing the foreign policy of the British government with regard to lands that the killer and others consider to be Muslim. Indeed, he made a statement on camera to that effect immediately after the killing so that there can be no doubt that the killing and the statement of intent were linked and intended to achieve a political goal. Contrast this with a killing done not for the purpose of political change but rather for revenge or due to prejudice or a grudge against a specific group or persons. It is the explicitly stated threat to society at large and the political goal that makes this terrorism and not simply a murder for hire or a crime of passion.

    116. Re:Fear Mongering by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      It's funny how when one of them does something wrong it's just a rogue individual, but when someone does something wrong to them (which apparently includes drawing a cartoon) it's an insult to all of them.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    117. Re:Fear Mongering by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      There is always a choice. We could have chosen not to start attacking civilian targets. Remember, we started it, not the Axis. We might still have won, we might have and had to fight an occupation, but either way it was still a choice we made.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    118. Re:Fear Mongering by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      Based on that logic, anybody who decides to commit a crime, can write a memo stating that they're doing it for jihad before they do it and become a terrorist?

      Sure, why not? They would be instantly eligible for enhanced punishments, greater certainty of punishments, and quicker delivery of judgement. What more does a criminal need?

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    119. Re:Fear Mongering by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      You have to tick all three boxes for it to be terrorism.

      Box (a) is definitely ticked, no question about that.
      Box (b), he wasn't trying to intimidate the public. Was he trying to influence the government? Maybe, it was retribution for wrongs he considered the police to have carried out against him. You could argue that he was trying to influence the police not to commit those wrongs.
      Box (c), was it for a political cause - not really, religious - no, racial - no, ideological - not really. It was a personal vendetta against the police.

      The (a) offences listed in section 2 are criminal offences elsewhere in criminal law. They only become terrorism if they are used to advance the aims in (b) and (c).

    120. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sweet dreams kill and destroy. Will you argue with the knife's edge? Pretend to provide rational rhetoric to the bullet slamming through your brain? Proclaim how the word is mightier than the sword as the gas enters your alveoli? Extol the boundless merits of cultural marxism as the virii use your cells as wombs?

      Unlike you some of us enjoy living somewhat free and reasonably liberal lives in relative safety despite the uncaring harshness of actual reality. Unlike you some of us understand who gave this to us and how we can pass it on to those we love.

      Wake up or die.

      P.S. I don't know what is supposed to happen here in Norway in July and neither do you.

    121. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Drone strike kills someone: "Oh god, this is horrible, these people should be thrown in jail for war crimes." Militants murder a soldier on a city street: "Hey, it's just an act of war, these things happen, it shouldn't come as a surprise."

      Drone strike kills a civilian: Oh god, this is horrible, the people who ordered this, and those who controlled the drone should be sent to Gitmo like we do with the enemy when they do the same thing to our civilians (except for the "drone" part).

      Militants murder a soldier on a city street: Hey, it's just an act of war, we should treat these guys just like we would one of our soldiers, if they killed an enemy soldier (not even a civilian).

      We can argue both ways without arguing for treating them differently. What we are really arguing is that we should treat both the same, no matter which way that is. When you want to one side differently, we argue that you should treat them just like you do the other side. No matter which side you are talking about.

    122. Re:Fear Mongering by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the link! I found a far more detailed version of the story at the link below. And it's a cracking read. An armed robbery, then a chase across about 5 miles of London, on foot and in various forms of transport including a hijacked tram and a milk float. The police handicapped by the fact they so rarely need guns, no-one knows where the key to the gun-locker is. And so they have to break in.

      http://pfoa.co.uk/uploads/asset_file/The%20Tottenham%20Outrage%20-%201909.pdf

      They could make a film out of this. It's almost like a chase from keystone cops or an Ealing comedy.

      There's defiantly more in the way of shotguns and a rifle from hunters than there are pistols and revolvers "from the crowd". It being in the region of Hackney Marshes, a pocket of countryside near to central London. (It was still un-built up enough in the early 2000s for them to put the Olympics village there.)

      So it backs up what I was saying about the majority of guns there being shotguns for rural types. But as to 3 or 4 pistols or revolvers - we don't know if they were carried, or brought out from homes. Two of them didn't work for the policemen, the storywriter speculates that the policemen were not familiar with the weapons, but they might just as easily been non-functioning. Nor do we know the professions of the people doing the lending. There are plenty of soldiers, security guards, and security services in London, less so elsewhere in the country.
      And the guns appeared over a 5 mile chase. So that meant that it passed a hell of a lot of people that didn't show any access to guns.
      So whilst it's a great story, it's not evidence of people carrying guns in the street, let alone widespread practice of it. Indeed guns seem to be so rare that the police hardly ever have need to unlock their own gun-lockers.

      But to be fair I did overstep the mark with "No notable ownership". There was ownership of guns in urban areas. I was just trying to stress that the vast majority of guns then were shotguns used for rural purposes.

      People were allowed to own guns but the vast majority then were living day to day existences, with no money for non-essential items. And guns were certainly that, except for people like farmers who needed them for their job.

    123. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyway, the scum getting their arses blown off richly deserve their Hellfire enemas. If they take up arms against us, call us kafirs, attack us in our cities, invade and colonise our countries, abuse our hospitality, and impose their inferior culture and customs on our societies, then they deserve to be blown to pieces.

      You do, of course, realize the rich irony here - that's what the West has been doing in the Middle East for over a century. Well, you'd need to add overthrowing elected governments, propping up tyrants, sponsoring extremism and terrorism and stealing resources. I guess you deserve a great big Hellfire enema too, eh?

    124. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you handle aggressors who hide among civilians?

      Shouldn't an 'aggressor' be someone who actually commits an act of aggression against your country? Or is summary execution cool because Obama said it was a bad dude?

    125. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ya don't know may actual Muslims, do you?

      99.99999% couldn't give a shi'ite about the supposed rift between Sunni and Shia. For most of the region, animosity exists along political or tribal lines. The extremists - primarily the Wahhabists, despise pretty much everyone else.
      The notion of Sunni vs. Shia is pretty much as contrived as Hutu vs Tutsi. However, it gets leveraged by those shit disturbing three letter agencies when they want to destabilize a country - prop up the extremists who will play the game. Then suckers like you happily share Faux news links as proof. Sigh.

    126. Re:Fear Mongering by NewYork · · Score: 1

      A terrorist is a freedom fighter who isn't on your side.

    127. Re:Fear Mongering by Jhon · · Score: 1

      Are there any examples where someone or group wasn't targeted because of an act of aggression or war?

    128. Re:Fear Mongering by Jhon · · Score: 1

      Can you REALLY say that about fundamentalist Islamic terrorists? Who would be free? Christians? Jews? Women? Who's liberty will be restored?

    129. Re:Fear Mongering by curtishinson · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I missed it, but how was this murder terrorism?

      It was terrorism because it was brown people, silly. It's only murder if it's an anglo, then they're a mentally unbalanced person. Brown people are always part of a grand brown conspiracy though. That's how it works.

    130. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was actually expecting /. to be fairly Islamophobic, but comments like these proved me wrong. Well done for being analytical and not falling prey to the media hype.

      -A Muslim

      P.S. If you want to know whether Islam condemns such vigilante, wanton acts of violence, you can visit a mosque and talk to an Islamic scholar. There are also plenty of lectures on YouTube, etc., by prominent Islamic scholars and Muslim organizations, which are unfortunately ignored by the mainstream media.

    131. Re:Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look buddy - if you want to learn about Islam you're better off learning from qualified Islamic scholars (like Hamza Yusuf) or by going to a mosque...reading Sam Harris on Islam is like asking a hard right-wing conservative Christian about Steven Dawkins. Just being honest.

    132. Re:Fear Mongering by fuzzy2k · · Score: 1

      Are there any examples where someone or group wasn't targeted because of an act of aggression or war?

      yes. AFAIK, the American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was intentionally bombed in Yemen was inciting actions through hateful rhetoric, not building bombs or killing people. He was convicted in absentia of belonging to al-Qaida. It is not clear that killing him was a bad decision.

      --
      --- Say something clever. Pretend it was me. Thanks.
    133. Re: Fear Mongering by Occams · · Score: 1

      It should be called "The war on error".

      --
      Heavy is the head that wears the tinfoil hat.
    134. Re: Fear Mongering by KGIII · · Score: 1

      That got a chuckle out of me. Thanks. I needed that.

      I am, obviously, aware that this tragic event took place in the UK but, it seems, that the US led the UK to get involved so where the US goes I'd not be too surprised to see the UK follow. Following our lead hasn't been their best choice (in my humble opinion) but, well, nobody ever listens to a KGIII and the facts remain what they are. As much as we might like it to be different, that's the way it is.

      Anyhow, as an interesting aside, though it is tangentially related... It seems that Obama is looking for a repeal of AUMF (Authorization to Use Military Force, the "war on terror") which is a good thing. This is what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

      The Authorization for Use of Military Force[1] (AUMF) is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress on September 14, 2001, authorizing the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001. The authorization granted the President the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. The AUMF was signed by President George W. Bush on September 18, 2001.

      See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_Against_Terrorists

      In a recent speech he had this to say:

      “So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF's mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end.”

      I dare say that it's an excellent thing. Unfortunately I don't have much hope for that being repealed at this time and I'm also skeptical. Here's an interesting link concerning the announcement and is where the above quote is from:

      http://www.policymic.com/articles/44327/aumf-repeal-obama-once-again-stands-up-for-democracy

      Basically, I see there being a snowball's chance in hell of this being repealed at this time. It just doesn't seem likely. The citizenry of the United States seems to be hoping for an end to the war on terror. It seems that they're tired of having their friends and family being sent home in body bags. True, there aren't a whole lot of deaths these days but it really does appear that people are tired of the war on terror and they're tired of funding it.

      Unfortunately, here's my issue, I don't think there's a very high chance of the AUMF being repealed. The politicians haven't actually passed a single law that I think the majority of citizens are happy with. I really can't think of a single thing to come out of this administration that pleases the majority of the populace. I don't really think the legislative branch is in touch with, or cares about, the citizenry that they're elected to represent.

      I don't blame the politicians, I don't blame them at all. They're doing what they want to do. I blame the people who elected them. I hold my friends, my family, my neighbors, those who voted, and especially those who didn't vote accountable for the representation (or lack of representation) that we have. We've turned it into a sport where the sole purposes are scoring points of harm against one another, inciting anger, distraction from piss poor legislation being enacted, and a cash grab. We have nobody to blame but ourselves...

      So, I suspect that Obama is a smart man. He certainly appears to be very smart and he appears to be a great politician. Just so you know, being a great politician doesn't mean that they're a good person or that they're interested in the well-being of the p

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    135. Re:Fear Mongering by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      After the victim was already wounded (by the car) they attacked him. They weren't wearing uniform. We can debate about whether they were carrying their weapons openly, or whether it counts if they get them out just before using them. Let's call it two and a half breaches of the Geneva Convention.

      I'd have no problem with them being put up against a wall.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    136. Re:Fear Mongering by GPS+Pilot · · Score: 1

      this is what the Afghan people deal with all the time.

      The Afghan people are dealing with US and UK troops who risk their lives so girls can attend school. You say that these troops senselessly, randomly kill Muslims, but in fact they try to narrowly focus their use of force against Taliban members who throw acid on those schoolgirls, or launch poison attacks against those schoolgirls.

      Fear mongering, indeed -- on your part.

      --
      That that is is that that that that is not is not.
    137. Re: Fear Mongering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow well said sir!

    138. Re: Fear Mongering by ElanMorales · · Score: 1

      because it was meant to instill fear in people

    139. Re:Fear Mongering by rhalstead · · Score: 1

      There are no innocent Muslims. They pray many times a day and are taught by the Koran that any one who will not convert should be killed. When you repeat something 5 or 7 times a day it becomes part of you.

    140. Re:Fear Mongering by Jhon · · Score: 1

      Hmmm... Anwar al-Awlaki is believed to help PLAN at least one of the attacks he's closely tied to. That sounds awfully like an act of aggression and an act of war, doesn't it?

    141. Re:Fear Mongering by saveferrousoxide · · Score: 1

      i so wish i could mod you up a million times right now. I'm a muslim, but i realize that that's just me. I have no empirical evidence to back me up, so how the hell can i go to someone else and say they're wrong? I can't and no one ever should and oh look! it's actively discouraged in the Quran. If someone asks me why I'm a muslim, i'll gladly tell them. if someone says something to me about islam that is false, i'll correct them without name calling or pipe-bombs. If someone shows me a cartoon of a dude fucking a pig and tells me that's mohammad while pointing at the pig, i'll say: "ok...weirdo." but as you say, we are all guilty of standing by our arguments even when there is no "right" answer and when there is no empirical evidence that something is right, only vehemence adds strength to your argument. sometimes that means shouting, sometimes that means ostracizing, and sometimes that means flying a couple of 747s into buildings on an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday morning.

  2. Bad Haircut!!! by Mikkeles · · Score: 4, Funny

    My barber gave me a bad haircut! We need a Snoopers' Charter! Now!

    --
    Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    1. Re:Bad Haircut!!! by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Your head still seems to be attached. The haircut couldn't have been that bad.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    2. Re:Bad Haircut!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His barber is Sweeney Todd.

    3. Re:Bad Haircut!!! by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1

      Your head still seems to be attached.

      Only the smaller one, apparently. ;)

    4. Re:Bad Haircut!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did he take a little too much off the top?

    5. Re:Bad Haircut!!! by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Snooper's charter to stop bad snippers?

  3. Why can't we be more like Norway? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why can't we be more like Norway?

    The prosecutor actually shook hands with Brevik because that's how they always do it and the hell some mass murdering bastard is going to make them give in and change their ways for the worse.

    Yet one person gets murdered here and everyone seems to be yelling "terrorist" and going weak at the knees in fear and stupidity.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
    1. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Because those are the sorts of people you want as leaders.

      Not you specifically, obviously, but enough people in America want admnistrations like that of Bush and Obama that a majority are voting them into power. It's exactly your last three words that are responsible for it, fear and stupidity, but if you're wondering WHY you can't be more like an actual democratic state, it's because a majority of your people don't want one.

      Maybe the real question you need to ask is, "never mind why we aren't like Norway, why are we the way we are NOW?"

    2. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      Well, it was in fact terrorism because what makes it terrorism is not the seriousness of the crime, but the intent. On the other hand, I don't see "fear and stupidity". I can see some degree of stupidity, but certainly not fear.

    3. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      but certainly not fear.

      The only point of reviving the snoopers charter is to pretend it will prevent anything like this happening again. It is therefore motivated by fear.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    4. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Why can't we be more like Norway?

      A year after Breivik's massacre, Norway tightens antiterror laws

      The prosecutor actually shook hands with Brevik because that's how they always do it and the hell some mass murdering bastard is going to make them give in and change their ways for the worse.

      You have a rather special understanding of things if you think taking action to prevent the future murder of people enjoying the Queen's peace in Britain is somehow making things worse. Or is it that you are reacting in fear?

      Will you welcome a new overlord from a foreign land if they simply offer you peace for submission?

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    5. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1

      ...enough people in America want admnistrations like that of Bush and Obama that a majority are voting them into power.

      ...largely because the net difference between the two parties is (almost) nil. Unfortunately, this is a trend throughout the Western world, where politicians of the major parties play to the misgivings of the least social-justice oriented of the electorate rather than exhibiting any courage to stand up for actual principles.

    6. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You have a rather special understanding of things if you think taking action to prevent the future murder of people enjoying the Queen's peace in Britain is somehow making things worse.

      Because making new laws to prevent murders could never be a bad thing. Same goes for terrorists, peados and criminals right?

      Murder is already very, very illegal. No new laws are needed.

      Planning murder is already very illegal. No new laws are needed.

      Soliciting murder is already very illegal. No new laws are needed.

      Starting from July 7/7/2005, an average of 7 people are killed per year due to terrorist attacks. That's on the same level as eye-wateringly obscure medical diseases.

      Basically, any money put into preventing those is a complete waste: the money would be vastly better spent elsewhere, such as improving road safety.

      Will you welcome a new overlord from a foreign land if they simply offer you peace for submission?

      No, I'll try and shoot them, just like the police shot at these murderers. And see, no new laws were needed.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    7. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it's a "trend in the western world" why, exactly? There's plenty of people who run independently with values that are more in line with that of the hive mind here (more rights for me, more security for me, me me me, etc.), yet Americans don't vote for them in large numbers.

      You can continue to blame politicians for failing to exhibit "any courage," for failing to stand up for actual principles," but until you're willing to do it yourselves you really have no one else to blame. You choose who to put into power -- the ridiculous two party system is the system you chose, you chose the politicians who created and continue to run Guantanamo, you chose leaders who torture in the name of security, these were all choices you made.

      Maybe the real problem is that you're having trouble living with those choices? Maybe it's just easier to point the finger at the politician than to realize the politicians emerge from the same pit of slime that the rest of the general population does?

    8. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There aren't enough representatives in American government. Any fear or anger in the population is magnified many times. They end up with a government scared of its tail and very eager to deploy the bombs.

    9. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by 10101001+10101001 · · Score: 1

      Yet one person gets murdered here and everyone seems to be yelling "terrorist" and going weak at the knees in fear and stupidity.

      In part. A tiny minority group has an agenda and uses anything and everything to pursue it. The vast majority of people are too cowardly or too stupid to confront that minority with any sort of logic or reason. Instead, the mere fact that they may be painted as pro-terrorism, pro-murder, anti-nationalistic, or simply non-compassionate leaves them to be walked all over, often go as far as parroting the party line instead of making a stand on principle or character or integrity. So, congratulations Britain; you're just like America.

      --
      Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h
    10. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as Brits can own knives, beheadings can happen. Knife Control is needed. Start with registration for all knives, then continue to things that can become knives.

    11. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe Britain has pretty severe knife regulations that can put you in jail for years for carrying a standard pocket knife. Obviously it's rather hard to eliminate sharpened metal entirely, however.

    12. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      OK, as this appears to be as good a point as any to say this:

      I'm a Londoner.

      We do not yell, we do not go weak at the knees.

      We have been bombed in more ways I care to count, We've been stabbed more times than I care to mention.

      We don't fap and we don't fuss, we keep going because that's the only thing to do.

      This wasn't an attack by Muslims, this was an attack by cowards.

      Nothing more, we should spit on their pitiful self importance.

      Anything else is terrorism so be careful of your hearts as that where it resides.

      We, London, continue.

    13. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is the existence of parties altogether. Washington didn't want any of it.

    14. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a Norwegian and while I take a break from the coverage of the massive regional floods I just wanted to tell you that I find you offensive. The trial was a sham, the prime minister's promise of more democracy and more liberty were lies introducing increased governmental efforts at futile censorship and desperate propaganda. You can take your predisposition towards etiquette and shove it up your ass until you suffocate.

      And maybe you don't know what is happening in Sweden right now?

      Do you think anyone will have the means or motivation to pick and choose between "good" and bad muslims when the levies break? Would you like me to quote a leading Burmese Buddhist monk on exactly why that would be futile with regard to muslims?

    15. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by misexistentialist · · Score: 1

      Breivik is white.

    16. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yet one person gets murdered here and everyone seems to be yelling "terrorist" and going weak at the knees in fear and stupidity.

      Not in the UK. The day after the 7/7 bombings, people were back to complaining that the buses were late (including the 30). After decades of attacks by the IRA, the attitude to terrorist attacks in pretty much "Oh, this again. Carry on".

    17. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      ...largely because the net difference between the two parties is (almost) nil.

      Take 3 points on a plain. A, B and C.

      1) If point C is a long way away from A & B, then there seems little difference between A & B.

      2) If point C is near to points A & B, then the difference seems much bigger.

      3) If point C is close to the line between points A & B, at any point on that line, then the difference between A & B is huge, they are diametrically opposed.

      In politics most people are in categories 2 or 3. Because the media coverage of politics marginalise belief systems that are too far away from that line. And most people's opinions are chosen from those offered to them by the media.

      Equally extremists of one sort or another are solidly in category 1. Unable to see the distinctions between A & B. They may be free thinkers, but equally they may have chosen from options offered by other non-mainstream information outlets. Such as extremist blogs.

      Reasonable but well informed people tend to be close enough to A & B to see there's a difference, yet off to one side of the line rather than on it, able to see those things in which both A & B are wrong.

      This applies to any country that has predominantly two party politics.

    18. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rather, it's motivated by the opportunity to pretend it's due to fear whilst they actually wanted to enact it all along.

    19. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or similar to the way the Amish community in the center of a school shooting responded: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1002/p09s02-coop.html (www.csmonitor.com)

      quite a powerful message that victims don't need to cower.

    20. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wish I had mod points, this should be at a 5. Nice to hear the stoic resolution of the British character carries on. Do not lose this!

    21. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You say that as if it were a bad thing.

      Our system recognizes the existence of people like you - fruitcakes who are convinced that their morals and values (or your term "social injustice") are the ones everyone should adopt and so have no problem with inflicting those morals and values on others via legislation.

      But people who think like that - apparently you - are nothing more than nut-jobs. You see, what morals and values a person has or lives by are entirely up to individuals to decide for themselves.

      There is no such thing as someone who knows best how others should live or what they should value. It is physically impossible.

      What do exist (apparently you are an example of such) are fucking lunatics who ~think~ they know best what morals and values other people should have. Our system is set up so that fucking fruitcakes who suffer from such self delusion can hopefully only cause the minimum amount of damage to others.

      Ones morals and values are not up to majority rule, and that is a Good Thing.

    22. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by newcastlejon · · Score: 1

      It's amazing how a city so hardened against crime, terrorists and adversity still goes to pieces at the first sign of snow. Before you mod me down, please notice the u/n and bear in mind what the North has already been dealing with - without complaint - when the white stuff first hits London.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    23. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Murder is already very, very illegal. No new laws are needed.
      Planning murder is already very illegal. No new laws are needed.
      Soliciting murder is already very illegal. No new laws are needed.

      I believe that level of perfection in the law was reached by 1613. Are you suggesting that in the last 400 years that all subsequent new laws were unneeded? There was no need to ban guns, since killing people was already illegal? No need for any of the anti-terrorism laws, since killing people was already illegal? There was no opportunity to improve matters that are governed by law? No possibilities to improve evidence gathering? No possibilities to improve cooperation between different ministries and agencies? No limits on extremist activity that might inhibit the already far too many people in HM realm that are disposed to commit acts of terror. Also note, by your reasoning there should have been no reason to effectively ban self-defense, since murder is already illegal so no further laws are necessary. I don't think I can agree with that.

      Starting from July 7/7/2005, an average of 7 people are killed per year due to terrorist attacks. That's on the same level as eye-wateringly obscure medical diseases.

      I am unaware of any obscure medical diseases that might cause one to burst into thousands of pieces of steel shrapnel to kill dozens of people standing nearby. That is a constant threat of terrorism of the sort already seen in Britain. The absence of regular incidents of such is a result of convictions, not luck or magic stones.

      Basically, any money put into preventing those is a complete waste: the money would be vastly better spent elsewhere, such as improving road safety.

      Those numbers can change rather quickly if just one plot gets through.

      No, I'll try and shoot them, just like the police shot at these murderers. And see, no new laws were needed.

      That would be use of an offensive weapon. There are severe penalties for violating the Queens peace like that.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    24. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe that level of perfection in the law was reached by 1613. Are you suggesting that in the last 400 years that all subsequent new laws were unneeded?

      Yes.

    25. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be use of an offensive weapon. There are severe penalties for violating the Queens peace like that.

      So you're saying that because of the current morass that is the legal code in Britain, you can't legally defend yourself.
      Instead you want to give up any and all privacy on the off chance it might help stop tourists?

    26. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by cheekyjohnson · · Score: 1

      You have a rather special understanding of things if you think taking action to prevent the future murder of people enjoying the Queen's peace in Britain is somehow making things worse. Or is it that you are reacting in fear?

      I'm trying to figure out why anyone would want to surrender rights and privacy in order to feel safer. That's what we did here in the US, and now people get molested for trying to get on a plane. How could that be considered a good thing?

      --
      Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
    27. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      I believe that level of perfection in the law was reached by 1613. Are you suggesting that in the last 400 years that all subsequent new laws were unneeded?

      New laws about murder? Apart from sentencing, not really.

      There was no need to ban guns, since killing people was already illegal?

      Pretty much, yes.

      No need for any of the anti-terrorism laws, since killing people was already illegal?

      Certainly. The laws which allow essentially indefinite detention or punishment without trial are a travesty of justice.

      Or perhaps you like the stop-and-search-brown-people uh photographer-harrassment uh stop-and-punish-anyone-the-police-don't-like uh I mean stop and search powers.

      They are a perfect example of a useless anti-terrorism law: found not a single terrorist and widely abused by the police.

      There was no opportunity to improve matters that are governed by law?

      I never claimed that.

      No possibilities to improve evidence gathering?

      Oh, you mean mass spying on the general population? There was no need for that and there remains no need for it.

      Also note, by your reasoning there should have been no reason to effectively ban self-defense, since murder is already illegal so no further laws are necessary. I don't think I can agree with that.

      Self defense is not and has never been murder. Murder by definition has elements of premeditation. And should self defense have bee pretty much outlawed? Hell no. If I stumble across a burglar in my house in the middle of the night, I should have the right to brain him with whatever comes to hand without first having to enquire as to his intentions, offer him a cup of tea (with optional milk and sugar) and perhaps a biscuit or two.

      I am unaware of any obscure medical diseases that might cause one to burst into thousands of pieces of steel shrapnel to kill dozens of people standing nearby.

      Since you seem determined to ignore the point about the relative death rates, I'll counter that there are many diseases that are vastly worse than being killed in a bomb attack. I'll also note that your dramatic language indicates that you really are living in a state of fear of remarkably rare event.

      You know if you visit the USA for 3 weeks on holiday you are more likely to be killed by lightening than by a terrorist attack back home in the UK (I couldn't find lightning death statistics for the UK).

      As a result, the money would quite literally be better spent on tin-foil hats for British tourists than on anti-terror stuff.

      Or perhaps you prefer fear based legislation than evidence based legislation.

      The absence of regular incidents of such is a result of convictions, not luck or magic stones.

      You have proven my point! What we have is already more than adequate. Why are more laws needed?

      Those numbers can change rather quickly if just one plot gets through.

      Not even slightly. We would need 20 July 7/7 bombing *per year* to match the number of road deaths per year. The fact that you don't even know the relative numbers make me wonder why you're bothering to try to argue based on facts.

      That would be use of an offensive weapon. There are severe penalties for violating the Queens peace like that.

      Last time someone threatened to invade and became a new overlord, getting drafted into the army to shoot at said (potential) invaders wasn't a problem.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    28. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by KGIII · · Score: 1

      You realize that you're attempting to argue that things like murder should be legal?

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    29. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Kaenneth · · Score: 1

      It's my understanding that you can'y even buy table knives in Britain if you are under 18.

    30. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if one is flat out childish and stupid enough to think that killing someone is purely a moral consideration.

    31. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by KGIII · · Score: 1

      While it is an extreme example it is valid. Theft would be an excellent example as well. Laws are often based on morality. To insinuate otherwise is silly.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    32. Re:Why can't we be more like Norway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a bit of a fucking dick aren't you. Grow up you retared, ignorant fuckwit, or fuck off back under whatever stone you crawled from.

  4. My Thoughts Go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Out to those killed an injured and to their families and also to those who witnessed such a gruesome attack. Since this only happened a couple of miles from me i could so easily have been there.

  5. The government which is strong enough to protect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.

  6. Science requires Evidence. by VortexCortex · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That the Snooper's Charter will reduce the threat of Terrorism is an untested hypothesis. Prove it will achieve such goals, THEN we'll talk about having it be a law.

    1. Re:Science requires Evidence. by Jahta · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That the Snooper's Charter will reduce the threat of Terrorism is an untested hypothesis. Prove it will achieve such goals, THEN we'll talk about having it be a law.

      As one of my colleagues often says to me, "you're being rational again". Politics doesn't follow the scientific method. The British tabloids (which are already pretty xenophobic) will be cranking up the FUD level to the max. When the idea get's enough mindshare among their readers, the politicians will follow the votes.

    2. Re:Science requires Evidence. by Xest · · Score: 1

      British politics has no room for scientific method though because of the way our ill thought out democracy is built (FPTP and so forth) it inevitably descends into a war of populist arguments. The US is arguably even more extreme again in this respect because it's also an inevitable result of the two part state - when you have only two parties realistically competing for power the ultimate result is that you have the two sides sliding towards opposing extremes in their arguments because there are no other parties to offer different ideas that would force a degree of moderation.

      I know a lot of people aren't keen on the Lib Dems but there rise at the last election was probably one of the healthiest things to happen to British politics in a long time - for all the things they've done wrong there's little question they have moderated the impact of the Tories somewhat at least and it's why I hope for a coalition next election with Labour (as opposed to a Labour or Tory majority that is anyway).

      Healthy democracy requires greater plurality than a mere two parties fighting over 100% of the power.

    3. Re:Science requires Evidence. by jareth-0205 · · Score: 1

      That the Snooper's Charter will reduce the threat of Terrorism is an untested hypothesis. Prove it will achieve such goals, THEN we'll talk about having it be a law.

      Not that I want it, but this argument is commonly heard, and naive.

      You cannot run everything based on 'provable hypothesis', some things just have to be decided by a logical argument. How do you prove that all actions are going to have the desired effect before they are carried out? The Snooper's Charter may or may not have a positive effect on national security, but until it's there and can be enacted, we're not going to know are we? It would be impossible to prove that Hitler planned to invade Britain in the 1930's, but a decision had to be made well before he got the change to carry it out.

      Many things we have to decide based on what we can logically predict.

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. No Robot Barber's anytime soon eh? by Dareth · · Score: 1

    When will you trust a "Robot Barber" to cut your hair? Sure they would test the software and such, but edge cases and an "off by 1" error would be much more painful I would imagine.

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
    1. Re:No Robot Barber's anytime soon eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When will you trust a "Robot Barber" to cut your hair?

      Would you trust a robot to shine a laser scalpel into your eyeball? If you've had LASIK you already have. If you've had a surgeon repair a torn retina you already have. In fact, LASIK would be impossible wothout robotic lasers.

  9. Government bill gets shot down... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Soldier gets shot down...
    Goverment bill gets revived.

    How convenient.

    1. Re:Government bill gets shot down... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's starting! Yet another "false flag" eh to besmirch the good ol' "religion of peace"? 1,400 years of false flags,eh?

    2. Re:Government bill gets shot down... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Easy to explain.

      Soldier gets beheaded.
      Twit posts.

    3. Re:Government bill gets shot down... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The government can exploit events without them being false flags.

  10. The Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At what point did they HAVE to use the internet in order to accomplish this?

    1. Re:The Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At what point did they HAVE to use the internet in order to accomplish this?

      How would you find soldiers in London with Google Search?

      How would you find your way to Woolwich without Google Maps amd Google Streetview?

      How would you know whether your terrorist plot worked without checked Google News?

      Hmm... Maybe there's a trend here. Let me check Google Trends...

      Maybe we should just ban Google instead of snooping on everyone.

  11. Can't waste a good tragedy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These people LOVE terrorism, it gives them an excuse to impose total hegemonic domination on a weak minded populace!

  12. Re:The government which is strong enough to protec by vettemph · · Score: 0

    My new tag line. Thanks.

    --
    The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
  13. They were already know to MI5... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...So existing anti terror legislation is perfectly adequate to have put them under as much surveillance as the Police or security service wanted.

    Just because the Police have access to communications data does not mean they would have know what was in the heads of these 2 men.

    If People are routinely watched and their emails read, they will simply not put anything incriminating in emails

  14. The usual immoral nonsense by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course this bill would not prevent any repetition of this act and countless other ways psychopaths with religion can kill people. It will however foster a police- and surveillance-state where the whole population is kept in fear permanently. From the efforts to reclassify this act as "terrorism", I conclude that keeping the population in fear is highly desirable for the UK government, possibly because it is failing at its job in countless other areas.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  15. What wonderful timing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How convenient for the puppet masters that there just happened to be a gruesome murder just days after their anti-privacy, anti-citizen, anti-freedom bill got shot down...

    Must enslave us for our own protection. False flag if I ever saw one.

  16. Re:The government which is strong enough to protec by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why? It's not particularly insightful. It doesn't take much power to take everything away from you. Much less than it would take to protect you from everything.

  17. Just great by joh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    First, this wasn't terrorism, it was war. Killing a soldier of a nation that kills people in a nation you view as "your" nation is not terrorism, it's plain war. Well, at least it's every bit war as drone attacks in Yemen and Pakistan are war. Or are the soldiers controlling the drones from Texas terrorists and killers?

    And: Snooping on all Internet communications to catch "lone wolf" terrorists is a War on the People, nothing less.

    This isn't going to end well and this "attack" (on one soldier, OMG) is the smallest part of it. There are people in Britain knived down in the streets every day. Two guys decide to change the course of history and everybody is helping to get the job done. Just great, really.

    1. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If this is war, then clearly British soldiers should be carrying their weapons in the streets of London and everywhere else in the UK.

    2. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and if what is going on in Pakistan is war, then cleary the children killed by drones should also be carrying their weapons.

    3. Re:Just great by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

      This is a classic example of terrorism: killing a person for the sake of political beliefs, and attention to them.

      The guys who did the killing are British citizens. If they identify with some other nation as "theirs", that would make it rather old-fashioned treason.

    4. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, I consider the people (hardly soldiers) controlling the drones terrorists and killers. As are all soldiers. What difference does it make that they happen to be being controlled by the US government, which thinks it can do anything an get away with it? Does being told by someone else (or the gov.) make it any less your fault for killing other people? Does "being at war" make slaughter of other humans any less so? I do not think so.

    5. Re:Just great by Grumbleduke · · Score: 1

      How can two guys murdering someone in the street be a war (to the extent that the word still works in the 21st century)? These guys weren't part of some greater force, weren't on instructions from some nation, these were a couple of religious nutters who thought it was a good idea to kill someone.

      Calling it war (or even terrorism) is to over-state it and glorify. It was (probably - we won't know until there's a conviction) murder. If guilty, they were just criminals. Politically-motivated criminals, perhaps, but still just criminals.

  18. Re:Forget the law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here here. Kill all the muslims!

    You people laugh when we defend our right to bare arms. I certainly know no mudslimes are going to touch my family.

  19. WRONG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they aint making statements THEY ARE FUCKING CRAZY
    ko koo , one brick short but hey yea lets think its a political statement
    thats as insane as they are you take your meds yet today

  20. Re:Forget the law by magic+maverick+ · · Score: 2

    Err, that's what these two people did. They saw the enemy, someone who (if not personally, then is part of the same gang that has) harassed their community, jailed their compatriots, etc. They took steps to "vanish" the person.

    Now quick, justify the E-e-edl attacking mosques! What? You're denunciation seems rather half-hearted you right-wing racist bastard scum. I think it's about time someone took direct action to make you vanish.

    --
    HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
  21. The Cause is Radical Islam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know, the same transnational terrorist ideology behind:

    Nidal Hasan

    The ethnic clensing of Copts in Egypt

    The Boston Bombers

    Etc.

    They kept shouting "Allah Akbar!" and political correctness demands that our governments keep saying "We'll probably never know their motivation."

    1. Re:The Cause is Radical Islam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      While you're correct, the liberals are also correct that tea party charities are likely to cheat on their taxes and should have extra scrutiny, but you don't see many conservatives calling for profiling when it's them getting the anal probe.

    2. Re:The Cause is Radical Islam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't see many conservatives calling for profiling ever. That's a liberal viewpoint from the racist Democratic party.

    3. Re:The Cause is Radical Islam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the liberals are also correct that tea party charities are likely to cheat on their taxes

      Simply untrue. They oppose increased taxes and spending as policy. They don't oppose paying taxes.

      are likely to cheat on their taxes and should have extra scrutiny

      The purpose of the scrutiny was to suppress them - the political opposition to the current administration - not to prevent illegal activity.

      you don't see many conservatives calling for profiling when it's them getting the anal probe.

      You don't see many conservatives calling for the use of state power to suppress the political activity of the peaceful political opposition, no.

  22. They all use toilets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We must put cameras looking out of every toilet.

    1. Re:They all use toilets by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I bet they all drank milk too!

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  23. im taking all the candy bars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    im taking all the candy bars to terrorise you about all the oppression ......

  24. Simple solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As usual, the root cause of the problem is religion. The sooner it is banned, the better.

  25. Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by adric22 · · Score: 1

    I'd like to see a guy out on the streets here in Texas try to stab people to death. He might get one, then he'll get shot by several people who were carrying concealed handguns. But unfortunately for the UK they have disarmed all of their citizens.

    1. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd like to see a guy out on the streets here in Texas try to stab people to death. He might get one, then he'll get shot by several people who were carrying concealed handguns. But unfortunately for the UK they have disarmed all of their citizens.

      By that logic, these attackers, if they were in Texas, would have use handguns for the attack; killing many more people before finally being shot dead themselves.

      Yep, an increased body count definitely sounds like a better outcome.

    2. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly!

      Also the whole part about taking 20 MINUTES for Armed Police to arrive to a murder in progress!!!??? WTF is going on over there...

    3. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by JustNiz · · Score: 1

      Thats because thanks to an asinine immigration policy, a large percentage of the "citizens" in the UK are themselves 1st gen. immigrants from the same countries/religions as the people that perpitrate these attacks.

    4. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      The attackers had guns, they pulled at least one on the crowd to keep them back while they went about beheading the soldier.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    5. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd like to see a guy out on the streets here in Texas try to stab people to death. He might get one, then he'll get shot by several people who were carrying concealed handguns

      Unlike in this incident, where they got one and were shot by armed police (because the regular force refuse to carry firearms).

    6. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by splutty · · Score: 0

      And then someone else sees someone shooting someone and that someone shoots the someone shooting someone else who sees someone shooting someone....

      Escalating gunfights are not pretty.

      Leaving out the fact that a fair amount of people in a stressed situation have serious problems actually aiming, so any surrounding 'innocents' become accidental targets.

      It's not as simple as the NRA makes it sound. Ask any policeman who's been in a similar situation.

      --
      Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
    7. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by 0123456 · · Score: 1

      Unlike in this incident, where they got one and were shot by armed police (because the regular force refuse to carry firearms).

      About twenty minutes later, after they'd spent that time posing for cameras rather than murdering more people.

      The only reason this wasn't dramatically worse was because most terrorists are -- fortunately -- idiots.

    8. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by tapi0 · · Score: 1

      where did you get your info? As I understand it, it took 14 minutes for the first armed police to arrive on scene from the first emergency call, which was about a RTA/assault. It was ten minutes from when the operators were notified that the perpetrators were armed to when those armed officers arrived. Now, ten minutes is all the time needed in a crime like this, but we don't have armed police on every block over here (not in Woolwich - central London and specific areas have roaming units). Now, it may sound hollow but that was actually a 'good' response. And I'm not sure how quickly police could arrive to a 'murder in progress' anyway, in order to stop it - if any victim is alive when they arrive, it's more likely a hostage situation (which may end up as a murder). Drummer Rigby (RIP) was dead before any response could have been made, unfortunately.

    9. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by 0123456 · · Score: 1

      And then someone else sees someone shooting someone and that someone shoots the someone shooting someone else who sees someone shooting someone....

      Yeah, I remember how that was going to happen in Florida after they legalised concealed carry.

      Fortunately it doesn't happen in the real world. You're far more likely to be shot by a cop than by an armed bystander, because the cop turns up while the crime is in progress and has to figure out who the bad guys are, while the armed bystander already knows.

      Nor did it happen in late Victorian times when an armed criminal in London would find said bystanders shooting at them and loaning guns to unarmed police who were chasing them.

    10. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      I follow these stories closely and I've never heard of a single incident where an armed citizen interrupting a crime has been mistakenly shot by another armed citizen.

      In the U.S., it's the POLICE you need to worry about. They shoot a lot more innocent civilians than armed citizens.

      They managed to wound NINE innocent bystanders when they fired a fusillade of bullets at a killer outside the Empire State Building. They killed a little girl in Detroit attempting to execute an arrest warrant on a person that wasn't in that house. In Cleveland, two groups of cops fired 140 bullets at each other across a middle school parking lot after chasing a vehicle onto the property. No weapon was found in the suspect vehicle.

      I feel entirely comfortable with my fellow citizens. It's the trigger-happy government employees that worry me.

    11. Re:Or they could just do what we do here in Texas by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Despite all your reasoning it is nonetheless true that American citizens are (somehow) able to use firearms to defend themselves on a regular basis.

      In some countries this woman would probably have been badly hurt or killed. Do you know how she avoided it?
      Elderly Woman Shoots at Intruder

      Tough Targets - When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens
      Stories That Happened In MI

      I can see why you might be misled on the subject though: Self-Defense: An Endangered Right

      On the other hand, HM seems to (second picture down) know what she likes.

      Cheers

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  26. Long Term - and deep failure by AdmV0rl0n · · Score: 0

    It's a symptom of the long term, tragic and disasterour immigration theory and policy that has operated in the leftist stateism in the UK.

    The UK under this system hates allowing in commonwealth, white, english speakers. They get clobbered by levels of visa limitations and immigration policy blockades. 'Asylumn' seekers and refugees somehow end up in the social care system. Its unheard of that you roll up in a state, go to a place in the capital and end up in a scenario where you get to claim a roof over your head and be fed and clothed. Thats how London has ended up. Its wholy wrapped up in PC bullshit, lies and deciet. Its not just London, its a disease across the country.

    The people who come do not get properly checked and vetted. Nor are they forced to make admissions of statehood, allegience, or any other boundary. So this has led to a state where large numbers who live inside hate it, have no affinity with it, detest the way of life, and the rest. The numbers of such people who serve in the civil society, or in the state, police, or military is risible. That this has been allowed to happen, and those responsible for this have blood on their hands today.

    You can add in Islam on top. Islam has zero place in western society. None. Nothing. Nada. You cannot have the ridiculous ideal of some western liberals where you want gay people to have equality, and you want the Islamics who are so stupid and none intergrational that they still wish to kill gay people or people who decide to leave the 'religion'.

    You'll have seen the peddling by political classes that this is not Islam. Oh yes it is. Its the Islam being peddled on the street, in the mosque, in the university, and across the internet, and by the imams. Its the same Islam being applied in endless notable countries across the globe. Its the same islam that legalises rape in pakistan, that legalises female forced criminal child abuse level sexual mutilation across most of the arab world, and its the same islam that is very simple to absorb by looking around the world you live in.

    As we have failed to remove problem imams and terrorists over decades, there is zero shock in this attack, in 7/7 or in the worldwide war of the low IQ stupid islamics. So what. I expect nothing less.

    I'm now 'guilty' of islamophobia a false and manmade bullshit excuse created to attempt to stifle anti islamic commentry and blame - and of 'blashpemy' - and am the target of 50+ Islamic states who have at UN level attempted to create laws in none islamic states against me, and any other free thinking or enlightened era people in particular in the west.

    Very few of these 50 states make it above the state of worthless shithole dominated by islam, with appalling human rights, womens rights, and so on and so on.

    I'm seeing a lot of horse shit about race. I'm seeing a whole pile of horseshit about how two people born in the UK of Nigerian family roots, who converted to Islam are angry about people dying in Iraq and Afganistan. Maybe I should go kill someone in Canada because I'm angry about people dying in new zealand. It would make about as much sense. Unless anyone dares to try to make Islam the link. If it is done, rememeber, I hold that link open in all other ways. The Umma isn't a one way street to use to the benefit of islamic stupidity, and then discarded when suitable as a bullshit cloak.

    --
    We`re all equal .. Just some of us are less equal than others.
    1. Re:Long Term - and deep failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mr Farage! I never knew you were on Slashdot.

  27. How about... by MikeRT · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You revive gun rights instead. Let's dispense with the boilerplate bullshit about how having a gun might not have saved him and just face a simple fact here. This would be substantially less likely to work in the US because terrorists know that such acts of violence would very likely end with them being met with a hail of bullets from bystanders or the police. In the US, random acts of savagery typically only happen in those areas where criminals know the citizenry cannot be lawfully armed. That those areas also tend to be minimally secured by the government to counter this fact is probably also a feature to them as well...

    1. Re:How about... by andrewbaldwin · · Score: 1

      That only works if you have people who care about living. Some of these attacks are by those who seek to become 'martyrs'. Indeed reports stated that the attackers ran to the police armed response unit brandishing weapons alnd almost wanting to be shot.

      I'm glad to live in a civilised society without guns and the risk of injuries from crossfire. At least here we don't have over 80 deaths per day from guns -- even scaling for relative population size the death toll is a high price to pay for "freedom" to carry devices with no use other than to inflict suffering and death.

    2. Re:How about... by afgam28 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This would be substantially less likely to work in the US because terrorists know that such acts of violence would very likely end with them being met with a hail of bullets from bystanders or the police.

      You do know that it did end in a hail of bullets from police, right?

    3. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It worked because it was unexpected. You can't prevent a murder just by carrying. This doesn't even take into fact that these men were expecting to die.

    4. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seconding this, just imagine the damage these criminals could have done if they hadn't stopped to gloat about it instead.

    5. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *Headscratch*

      So it's a high price only in the face of perceived lack of public benefit?

      I don't want to be a jackass here ... you made an economic argument (not really in dollars, but in relative 'cost' that I presume amounts to social capital) about a high cost, but it doesn't appear to hold up.

      I mean... we have ten times as many deaths a day because of cars and doctors that don't wash their hands.

      Is your claim that because there's no use other than to kill someone that the death isn't worth it in this case, but it is in the others?

      I mean -- there's no case where death is "worth it". There may be cases where benefits outweigh non-specific risks. But there's never a time where it's justifiable to say you're going to let someone die as a matter of public policy.

      (Note -- firearms ownership is not equivalent to a public policy of murder or justified homicide)

      So if we discuss a rate of death and relative gain in a system in which you've already begun with the conclusion that "there is no benefit"... I mean... of course there's no economic justification. You've already so loaded the argument that there couldn't possibly be. In fact, by presuming that deaths-per-day is intrinsically negative, you've pretty much... stated your conclusion up front.

      Let's be clear -- I agree that in general, death is a negative thing. Likely even "the majority of deaths" are negative. But this does not give you liberty to conclude that therefore it is appropriate to stop all death.

      Also don't appreciate your ad homimem attacks by effectively claiming we're uncivilized or unfree, that the only uses are inherently sociopathic (inflict suffering and death) and thus implicitly illigitimate... that gunowners are rampant careless cowboys who don't think about the risk of crossfire.

      In fact, I'm pretty sure your hoplophobia and desire to ostracize others through meritless arguments marks you as the person that doesn't enjoy civilization...

    6. Re:How about... by Xest · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Remind me how many people died in the boston bombings again? How did or could guns have helped there exactly?

      Remind me how well your firearms trained campus cop fared against the two brothers responsible again?

      If we had US gun laws then this would've looked a lot less like a random murder and a whole lot more like an Anders Breivik massacre, so no, how about we don't have US style gun laws here.

      The fact the most these guys could muster was a rusty pistol that they appeared to have managed to make little use of and a bunch of knives meaning this was only a one victim attack is actually a vindication of the fact that our gun laws are pretty effective. If even determined killers can't get more than a knackered rusty pistol between two of them then great, our laws are working really well.

    7. Re:How about... by Patch86 · · Score: 2

      You revive gun rights instead. Let's dispense with the boilerplate bullshit about how having a gun might not have saved him and just face a simple fact here. This would be substantially less likely to work in the US because terrorists know that such acts of violence would very likely end with them being met with a hail of bullets from bystanders or the police. In the US, random acts of savagery typically only happen in those areas where criminals know the citizenry cannot be lawfully armed. That those areas also tend to be minimally secured by the government to counter this fact is probably also a feature to them as well...

      If we had extensive gun ownership, they would not have been stabbing their victim- they would have hit him with a hail of bullets, probably killing bystanders in the process. The hail of bullets from other panicked bystanders would probably have killed yet more innocent people on the crowded London street.

      Nothing is likely to save someone from a targeted ambush; it's a simple fact of life that no matter how well armed you are, if people you don't know want to kill you by surprise on a busy street, you probably won't be able to get away. With that in mind, what's left to say? In an act of so-called terrorism in the UK, one victim was killed, the perpetrators were killed themselves, and no-one else was hurt. That's a fantastic result which you would be unlikely to have seen if our country had been flooded with guns.

    8. Re:How about... by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      The idea that a firearm renders you invulnerable is a strawman set up by the anti-gun crowd. No firearms freedom advocates are claiming that carrying a firearm is a panacea for personal safety. A firearm merely gives you a fighting chance against an armed or physically superior attacker.

      Speaking of the Boston bombings, are pressure cookers and fireworks banned in your country? Do the anti-gun laws extend into Ireland and did they prevent the IRA from carrying out attacks?

      Considering the fact that the criminals didn't attack anyone else in the general vicinity, I don't think their goal was to murder as many people as possible. If they were intent on mass murder, they would have found a means to that end.

      Perhaps nothing would have saved the victim, but the odds of his survival would have been much better with a firearm.

    9. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Also don't appreciate your ad homimem .... I'm pretty sure your hoplophobia..."

      Hypocrisy or irony ?

      As for deaths by cars, accidents, bad medical practices ... yes they are all just as bad - for the victim it probably matters little what the cause if they suffer pain/death.

        BUT car makers don't design them to be deadly; sociopaths aside, doctors don't set out to kill -- these are unfortunate side effects. Now tell me again what the purpose of a gun is? what is it designed to do?

      Besides, just because A is wrong, doesn't make B right.

      Even if you adopt a self-appointed role in choosing where it is appropriate to kill (an interesting position in itself, that you feel so superior that your judgement is wise, great and infallible), how would you face the relatives of someone else killed by crossfire or ricochets (these are busy city streets remember)?

    10. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it was a planned attack. If he had a firearm, the attackers would either have firearms or a bomb. His odds of survival are just as bad, if not worse. Furthermore, the odds of survival for everyone else, is lower. Unless you know a way in which only the good guys get the guns, then making more effective weapons more freely available just makes things worse.

    11. Re:How about... by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      After some considerable delay, while the terrorists milled about chatting, yes.

      If a law abiding person at the scene had been armed, instead of just the terrorists, it might have ended before the terrorists were able to decapitate Drummer Rigby. Personally, I would have found that quite agreeable.

      When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    12. Re:How about... by KGIII · · Score: 1

      "Also don't appreciate your ad homimem [sic] .... I'm pretty sure your hoplophobia..."

      Hypocrisy or irony ?

      I am not entirely sure that pointing someone's fear out is an ad hominem as it does appear to be relevant. Here's a link where you can check the definition and decide for yourself if it meets the criteria or not.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

      Even if you adopt a self-appointed role in choosing where it is appropriate to kill (an interesting position in itself, that you feel so superior that your judgement is wise, great and infallible), how would you face the relatives of someone else killed by crossfire or ricochets (these are busy city streets remember)?

      I can answer only for myself. If I were the family of someone who was killed in the crossfire (using worst case scenario) I'd like to think that I'd be angry and would want to kill the person who killed my family with their idiotic gun use. However, I'd like to hope that I got over the feelings quickly because they're absurd and I'd hope that my emotions were such that, after reflection, I was grateful that they had at least made an effort to help.

      There is some degree of chance here. I may be less inclined to be grateful should they have been randomly shooting and shooting inappropriately. However, there's always a risk. So, assuming they had good intent and good methods which still resulted in an accidental death I'd like to think I'm rational enough to accept that it was accidental and would like to think that I'd thank the person for having tried. I'm sure that no amount of my berating them would cause them more mental anguish than they were already suffering.

      And yes, yes I do have the legal right to carry a concealed weapon. I've never used it and I hope I never have to. I have combat experience where I fired my weapon at an enemy who was returning fire. I don't know if my rounds were the cause of their death but they were killed. We do not live in a utopian society. Removing the right to arm oneself is, in my opinion, a net negative. Freedom means accepting risks and responsibilities. While the loss of life is tragic the measurement we need to use is the scale of the whole rather than the individual.

      Not posted AC... I've got the karma to burn.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    13. Re:How about... by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for them but I presume that they're talking about the immediacy. The police did, indeed, end it with a hail of bullets but it was some 20 minutes or a little less (depending on whose timeline you go by it seems) after the fact. I understand it was nearly 15 minutes before the police even arrived on the scene. My impression of the GP's post was that they were speculating that it would have resulted in a hail of bullets (for better or worse) sooner than that.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    14. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just learned that in the UK, the passersby were restricted from carrying knives, so they couldn't even defend the soldier with weaponry equal to the attackers. The attackers had legally-guaranteed superior weaponry to the entire British public just by carrying kitchen knives.

    15. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From what news I have read on the subject, the scenario you present is unlikely. In such a cast, it is much more likely that one or two armed and trained people would have responded reasonably, while the rest of the people would have ignored it or panicked (in either case, not significantly effecting the situation). By "responded reasonably" I mean drawn if the situation warranted and was safe enough, or let the attacker do what they would if the potential to harm others was too great.

    16. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The anti-gun laws were not nearly so strict in the IRA's day. And such as they were, they extended into Northern Ireland, but obviously not into the republic with which it shares a very open border.

      I really don't see how adding guns would have made the victim any less dead. Bear in mind, you have to add them on both sides - actually, if you want to be at all reasonable in your assessment, you would have to add them with certainty on the perp's side, but only with a finite probability to bystanders.

    17. Re:How about... by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Do we know for sure yet whether the "terrorists" fired a shot? I saw one person claiming to be a witness that said the terrorists fired first, but most reports have no mention of that, and the event by event accounts that I've seen don't say that they shot.

      In fact there were plenty of crowds around, who don't seem to have seen the need to duck for cover, so the gun, real or not, doesn't seem to even have been waved around till the police showed up.

      In which case did they have a functioning gun at all? Or was it a replica. Or did they not have access to ammo. We may have to wait for the trial before this information is released. And why only one gun, when there were two of them? They seemed to have plenty of bladed weapons.

      These are people that have been known to be involved with Islamic fundamentalism for a decade, and yet it seems likely they couldn't get easy access to firearms.

      You think the public should have easy access to firearms. In this case armed bystanders couldn't have stopped the initial attack which was to run into the soldier with a car. We don't know the cause of death yet, so we don't know if that was fatal in itself, but it could have been.

      For sure an armed bystander could have put an end to this sooner, but at what stage? Even after the meat cleaver attack most bystanders thought there had been a car "accident". The chances of some member of the public getting out their gun and committing themselves to shooting a man, before the first swipe with a meat cleaver are limited. For someone who'd not a police trained firearms officer assessing the situation and committing to shoot and possibly kill someone takes more that a second or two.

      But still, the outcome of this MIGHT have been better had a member of the public been armed and willing to shoot someone.

      But the flip side is that the "terrorists", both these ones and others, would then have easier access to firearms. They would certainly have been properly armed, and may well have have killed more people.

      UK gun policy is working. Gun crime here has been falling for years. It would be foolish to reverse the policy when the existing trend is a good one.

  28. Terrorists win again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The moment you begin to strip people's civil liberties, in the name of fighting terrorism, is the moment that the terrorist has won.

    1. Re:Terrorists win again by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      If governments would stop making terrorism so incredibly effective then maybe people would stop doing it.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  29. Re:Forget the law by pjk · · Score: 3, Funny

    We in the UK do have the right to bare arms. I myself have an extensive t-shirt collection.

    --
    pjk
  30. Re:Forget the law by Culture20 · · Score: 1

    right to bare arms.

    What's that? The right to conceal-carry then briefly open-carry? "One Adam Twelve, One Adam Twelve: Reports of man flashing his 'piece' near 5th and Elm" "Roger, dispatch. We encountered the gentleman, and he was exercising his right to bare arms".

    Or maybe it's a right to wear no sleeves?

  31. Anyone else find it strange? by Smerta · · Score: 1

    So I saw one video where apparently a normal passerby was simply video'ing one of the suspects, bloody hands and all, rant about how necessary it was. And during the filming, another lady just pushes past the guy, cleaver & knife in hand, with a goddamn baby stroller!!! Who would be comfortable casually filming such a thing? And who would be comfortable walking by with your baby???

    Then on the linked article above, I see another picture, this one of the other suspect, holding a bloody knife, talking to a woman who doesnt appear to be very threatened or worried.

    I just find this to be bizarre. Could be totally wrong, but after 9/11, Boston, New York attempts, etc. I would imagine in America such an attack would result in a mob surrounding these guys and "neutralizing" them. Maybe not politically correct, but I think Americas tolerance for this kind of thing is zero now. I just find the British citizens reactions extremely strange. (Yes, I know they had knives, etc. but I would expect people to either avoid them, or surround & neutralize them.)

    1. Re:Anyone else find it strange? by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      There's more: there was a woman who approached within arm's reach and engaged them in conversation. And now, just because they didn't happen to be killing randomly, there are probably people who think she "defused" the situation. If they would have been on a murder-spree, she'd be dead.

  32. How.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    would this bill have stopped this murder? I don't get it.

    1. Re:How.... by 0123456 · · Score: 1

      According to today's news, the 'security services' had run into these men several times in previous investigations, so if that hadn't tipped them off that they were going to do something, snooping on their email would unlikely to do so.

  33. IRA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The IRA didn't get near this level of either publicity OR hate to the Irish.

    But because this one is by someone of dark skin, therefore OBVIOUSLY different (and if we'd been negroid and this person white, the same would be true: it's the "obviously different" thing that's important: many of these fwits trying to kill muslims can't think of anything more complex than "he's black, not white"), there's a huge shitstorm of the most ignorant fwits who are trying to one-up the murderous tendencies they're rampaging about.

    How does that work?

    1. Re:IRA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't know about white muslims? Thought you were one but you're just a dhimmi. Bye bye.

  34. Re:Forget the law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is that what you're going to say to your killers?

  35. The irony of this by Xaedalus · · Score: 2

    The irony of this is that the Prophet Muhammed fought explicitly against this kind of behavior in his wars against the Arab pagans. Before Muhammed, Arab culture was drowning in "Jahiliyah", which is best understood as extremist machismo. Arab chieftains would think nothing of acting violently and completely out of context/overreact to any insult, real or perceived. They would commit acts similar to what occurred in London: beheading a fellow tribe member for looking at them wrong, proclaiming a blood feud over a trifle--all in the name of being a leader and being a "man's man". Women had only the rights and privileges that men allowed them--which in those times varied wildly. If a woman was part of a bedouin tribe, she was merely property and forced to be part of a polygamous society (and as far as the whole 9 year old girl thing--that was exceptionally common amongst most cultures in that time period, and it was the de-facto standard in Arab tribal life); if she lived in Mecca or one of the few Arab cities, she had a chance at wealth and education. What Muhammed did (leaving Allah out of this) was introduce a counter-culture where women and men were on separate, yet equal footing, and deprogrammed the extreme masculinity. The wars between Mecca and Medina were all about this, and eventually Muhammed won out. Except that after his death, the Arab culture slowly subsumed and altered Islam, because culture always subsumes religion (and not the other way around; modern Christianity is nothing more than Emperor-worship a la Rome).

    And now I'm going to violate the One True Scotsman rule, and say that what happened in London was a complete barbarity, and Muslims should be ashamed because they have allowed the worst aspects of Arab culture to redefine the words of the Prophet--it's as the critics of Islam say on here now: Islam as it is now, needs to either be destroyed or thoroughly reformed because it no longer reflects the will of Allah and the Prophet.

    --
    Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
    1. Re:The irony of this by Bongo · · Score: 1

      I think the worst descriptions of M. I've read are about the Arab culture of honour and war [1] and it is interesting that most trouble we hear about is in the Arab world, whilst the biggest Muslin country is actually Indonesia. Perhaps it is just the result of desert life. To quote a terrible line, "I hate sand".

      Interestingly there was a study that said the honour code (you should personally retaliate against people) is present in USA and increases from North to South -- the further South you go, the more people believe in honour -- and the further South you go, the more shootings you encounter.

      Actually by the time you reach Canada in the other direction, Americans are as nice as Canadians. And shoot people as little as Canadians.

      [1] The fact that their founder was a tribal warrior, and their religion the version 3 (obsoleting Judaism v1 and Christianity v2) make the sand-culture-religion-fanaticism all the more tricky to untangle. Frankly I don't suppose it can be disentangled, and too much hate speech by preachers goes unchecked.

    2. Re:The irony of this by Xaedalus · · Score: 1

      One thing: Muhammed _wasn't_ a tribal warrior. He was an illiterate son of a city merchant who married well. He also had epilepsy.

      --
      Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
    3. Re:The irony of this by Bongo · · Score: 1

      OK that's weird, what are books about the "warrior" part referring to?

    4. Re:The irony of this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They say Jesus was also actually a nice guy and not a Crusading, Inquisitioning, one true religion asshole. But I don't believe it. Modern history leads me to conclude that Mohammed was an asshole too. For all it matters.

    5. Re:The irony of this by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Prophet Muhammad also said that it is obligatory for Ummah to take part in the lesser jihad when some Muslim community somewhere is under assault by the unbelievers.

    6. Re:The irony of this by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      modern Christianity is nothing more than Emperor-worship a la Rome

      Modern Roman Catholicism is nothing more than Emperor-worship a la Rome. Perhaps you've heard of Protestants? Eastern Orthodox? etc?

    7. Re:The irony of this by Xaedalus · · Score: 1

      Yeaaaaaah... I have. And my point still stands. Emperor-worship is emperor-worship, only instead of the Pope you have Jesus Christ the Super-White Son of God And Lord Supreme Of All (a la Revelation--which, btw, wasn't written by the Apostle John, it was written by St. John of Patmos). Have you taken a look at the way Evangelical philosophy is swaying modern religious dogma these days?

      --
      Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
    8. Re:The irony of this by Xaedalus · · Score: 1

      They're referring to the battles between the Ummah at Medina and the pagans at Mecca. And in those cases, Muhammed wasn't the actual general. There were others who directed the campaigns.

      --
      Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
    9. Re:The irony of this by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      Emperor-worship is emperor-worship, only instead of the Pope you have Jesus Christ the Super-White Son of God And Lord Supreme Of All

      So I get why the Pope is an emperor. He's clearly the ruler of a country. And clearly merely a man. Now Jesus, on the other hand: He's referred to as being
      1) merely a man, never a ruler of anything, and dead
      2) Divine, and worthy of worship
      3,4,5,6,7...) Any number of other things not germane to this discussion
      Non-Catholic Christianity, even if it's wrong about the nature of Jesus, doesn't believe Jesus to be an emperor in the sense of the Pope or Ramses. He's considered divine, an aspect of YHWH (as you just mentioned). So you're essentially saying that any and all religions which worship a deity are emperor-worship.

    10. Re:The irony of this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod parent Troll. This is one of the greatest examples of Muslim revanchalism at hand. Aside from marrying that SIX year old (and CONSUMATING her at 9), Mohammed also abolished adaption so that he could marry his adapted son's daughter-in-law. Honor killings is something codified in the Quran. As the example of Mohammed's first wife Khadijah shows, Arab women were reasonably free BEFORE Islam - it was Mohammed who relegated them to chattel. Read chapter 4 of the Quran - the one titled 'WOMEN'. It's the one that allows Muzzies to have 4 wives, beat them and decrees that one's wife is one's tilth - to be plowed - translation - women are just breeding machines and nothing better. Xaedalus is either a Muslim or a servile dhimmi propagandist or an ignoramus of the first order.

    11. Re:The irony of this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's probably some validity to this, but it's undeniable that the Koran clearly states many times that unbelievers are "the worst of creatures" and should be killed, whereupon they will burn in hellfire forever. Mohammed not only endorsed stoning women to death but is recorded as killing one personally. This is made considerably worse by the fact that the Koran is basically a list of unquestionable, perfect precepts received directly from Allah and not a historical document that is generally understood to require some contextual interpretation like the Bible.

      Violence, intolerance and fundamentalism is inherent to Islamic culture and I don't see how that can ever change given the source material. The Woolwich murderers were doing exactly what the Koran instructed them to. Whenever this sort of crime happens, we're told by our politicians that most Muslims are moderates and don't support such actions. However surveys of Muslim youth and the highly qualified "condemnations" from talking head community leaders show that many of them have some level of sympathy with the Jihadis.

    12. Re:The irony of this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You need to read up on recent Indonesian history if you don't know about the massacres against Christians, the maltreatment of Chinese, the extremism in Aceh, and the bombs muslims set off on Hindu Bali (Bali is an island in the "middle" of Indonesia in case you don't know). You might also be interested in learning about Indonesian muslim terrorists popping up in Singapore and Malaysia.

      There's also the ordinary daily muslim extremism of northern west Malaysia which is dominated by lush tropical rainforest and in the south-west Philippines which ought to be described as tropical island paradise, except that it's infested with muslims of course.

      Or southern (and tropical) Thailand (next to northern west Malaysia) where they kill teachers and Buddhist monks and anyone else they feel like.

      Or in tropical Burma except not on the border to northern west Malaysia but this time on the border to Bangladesh where they've been up to their usual criminal acts of rape and murder and where Buddhist priests and monks now correctly advocate the genocide of at the very least all male muslims.

      Or for that matter in Stockholm, Sweden, where they are pampered to live better than Mohammed (cursed is his name) ever did. Likewise in the rest of Europe, Canada, and America.

      Sand? Only in their heads and hearts, in yours too but maybe you can still shake it out. Maybe on your way to the beach? Arabs don't permanently live in the middle of the fucking desert you know, the nomads travel through it and the rest seldom enter it. One of the few places where people actually do live in the middle of the desert (an oasis town in Sahara) was recently sacked by muslims who burned and destroyed what they perceived to be un-islamic islamic artifacts etc. while mutilating muslims left and right.

      I was nannied by a Tunisian angel of a human being, she wasn't muslim but she could easily have been. I have had cherished muslim friends, acquaintances, and colleagues, people of reason and exceptional ability.

      If I was given the option to rid the world of islam they would all be dead in a second. It would be more than worth it, unfortunately.

  36. Do we really need to go over this AGAIN? by Sloppy · · Score: 1

    Perhaps I missed it, but how was this murder terrorism?

    I thought everyone was familiar with the process thanks to the Saturday morning cartoons, but perhaps some of you Delinquent Terrorees need it spelled out.

    After a crime or crime-like event, what'll happen is that someone on the Terroree Committee announces their IBA (Intent to Become Afraid). Another committee member seconds this, possibly after some out-of-band side-dealing. This brings the terror (small "t") to the floor, where a wider discussion ensues. If seven ninths of the committee supports Afraidity, then goes to the larger Terroree Assembly for more debate and ultimately a straight majority vote. (I'm oversimplifying here, but I'm not sure how much detail you were requesting.)

    If it wins the vote, it is promoted to a Terror (large "T"). A Terror's actors become "terrorists" and the action "terrorism" and so on. If no motive for the terrorism is found (no one comes forth and explains their demands and that they performed the act in order to persuade the public to see things their way, the classic boilerplate being "I committed that violent action in order to prove that my views are the wisest views") then something can be made up -- technically after being sent back to the Terroree Committee. To save time, the original committee's meeting may come with a non-binding suggested motive, and after the assembly's Terror vote, a popular Terror will often immediately proceed to a vote on the suggested Terror Motive.

    All members of the Terroree Assembly agree, as a condition for joining the assembly, that they will comport Afraidity with any and all Terrors, without exception, and regardless of however they voted upon the original terror (the "Mandated Afraidity"). This helps to address charges of illegitimacy, so that we don't have a repeat of the Cole incident (where it languished in Terror Court after passing the assembly (with high absenteeism) and a poll of the assembly members found that 87% of its members hadn't been Afraid).

    The Mandated Afraidity, while once thought of as draconian and overburdensome, is now widely accepted thanks to a notification network which helps to keep assembly members up-to-date and informed about exactly what to fear, how to persuade the public to comport Afraidity, etc.

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    1. Re:Do we really need to go over this AGAIN? by magic+maverick+ · · Score: 1

      Bravo. The only issue was linking to Fox News when discussing Britain.

      --
      HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
  37. The Beat Goes On... by some+old+guy · · Score: 1

    Power-grabbing government fucktards exploiting fear created by murderous religious nutjobs yet again. And again. And again.

    Until humanity as a species somehow simultaneously outgrows religion and greed, we're stuck with it.

    I'm betting on Carrie Fisher clone extraterrestrials showing up with free beer and a cure for herpes first.

    --
    Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
    1. Re:The Beat Goes On... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem isn't "religion and greed", it's authoritarian followers.

      Every politician who demands more power and control for themselves is paired to a crowd of followers nodding in silent agreement.

  38. Tragedy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Never let a good one go to waste.

  39. when all you have is seconds... by geoffrobinson · · Score: 1

    the police are just minutes away.

    --
    Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
  40. A country free from terrorism by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

    North Korea

  41. Don't you just love it. by mbone · · Score: 1

    I consider these sorts of immediate reactions as the worst kind of political deceit. (The Patriot Act was another, similar, case.) It would be one thing if some commission examined the circumstances, and came out in 6 months or so with a considered argument as to why this or that measure might have made a difference. That at least could be debated. But, no, instead it is "here are these pre-canned ideas that have been shot down before, but now you need to adopt them immediately just because."

    I would suggest sending the proposers to the Tower, but I understand that is passe now-a-days.

  42. Yes, the correct answer is probably "meh" by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1

    The prosecutor actually shook hands with Brevik because that's how they always do it and the hell some mass murdering bastard is going to make them give in and change their ways for the worse.

    ...Is almost certainly the correct answer.

    We've managed to take principled stands against things like paying ransoms to hostage takers for years, recognising that even though the consequences in an individual case may be horrible it is important not to lend any credibility to the strategy of taking hostages.

    Today we are seeing a few very small groups of people, who want to instil fear to promote some sort of ideological position, who actually do relatively little damage but do it in ostentatious ways to seek attention. How is it that our political leaders and media reporters think the correct response to this strategy is to give these people exactly the attention they crave, with wall-to-wall graphic media coverage and inflammatory political statements full of phoned-it-in remorse and concern? If we want to disrupt people who support terrorism, perhaps we should start with all the influential people who are making terrorism a viable strategy in the first place.

    I'm pretty sure the correct reaction to these kinds of incidents is to allow the police to investigate, to put the perpetrators on trial, and in this case probably to send them to prison for life like any other murderer. Meanwhile, the politicians and media could spend their time promoting (both politically and with funding) things like medical research or safer driving, either of which has the potential to save many more lives in a single year than preventing every terrorist attack that has occurred in the same places in my entire lifetime.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  43. It's not real. by 3seas · · Score: 1

    For those who saw the beheading of a woman video, you have something real to compare to this fabrication.

  44. Well, the terrorists also would do what you do by joh · · Score: 1

    They just would have used guns instead of knifes, maybe killed ten instead of one.

  45. Britans living as slaves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great Britain? Arm your soldiers, arm yourselves. When it takes 20 minutes for you Bobbies to arrive you're already dead.

  46. Here's the problem. by houbou · · Score: 1

    In a perfect world, we would realize that we don't get to choose where we are born and what color of skin we get.

    In a perfect world, we would also realize that every culture has something good to provide and bad customs to shed themselves from.

    In a perfect world, we would educate everybody towards personal accountability and tolerance to various beliefs

    In a perfect world, we would acknowledge that nobody has ultimate knowledge and that we work much better as a whole, than we do when we are fragmented.

    In a perfect world, we would know that we can't have it all, rejection is part of life

    But this isn't a perfect world, now, is it?

    So, we must deal with the illogical, the greedy, the narcissistic and the cruel.

    If we want terrorism to end, we must ask ourselves why it is there in the first place?

    Nature vs Nurture

    Inherently we all want peace, but our various upbringings make us believe in all kinds of non-educated nonsense about being superior, or inferior to other members of humanity and or various deities and worships, so on and so forth, which somehow, always has the net effect of segregating people.

    Take any newborn from any race, in fact, take 2 yrs old from all races and cultures and put them in a room. And you will see the truth through their eyes. They just want to have fun, they will play. Sure, there will be some tantrums, and some crying and some hurting, but that's just it. There is no hatred.

    Humanity will need to learn a few things very shortly.

    1) There is only 1 planet Earth
    2) The boundaries on this planet are man made, wind, water and nature doesn't care about those boundaries
    3) True power comes from building bridges between people
    4) Humanity is like a lawn, you kill the bad weeds

    So, with that in mind, for the sake of this planet, we should learn that life is sacred, not because of some god(s), but because it is sacred and we most of all need to learn that those who take an active stance towards oppression, cruelty and discord, should be eliminated from this planet. Kill all terrorists, Kill all dictators, Kill all those who kill for pleasure and/or for profit.

    Killing is a choice, it isn't good or evil.

    Those who we would prove to be killers, should be put to death by their peers.

    That is justice.

    I believe that we humans whether we like it or not, are on an continual quest to learn about ourselves, to better ourselves. To do that, we must take a stance and we must stop the nonsense. Life is truly what "WE" make out of it. There is no "I" in team, a cliche, but so true.

  47. That's Brits for you by joh · · Score: 1

    There's more: there was a woman who approached within arm's reach and engaged them in conversation. And now, just because they didn't happen to be killing randomly, there are probably people who think she "defused" the situation. If they would have been on a murder-spree, she'd be dead.

    This woman deliberately walked up to the guys when they were talking about starting a war in London and told them 'You're going to lose, it is only you versus many'.

    I can't see anything wrong with that. It was brave, yes, but not wrong. If you have common people acting like that, idiot terrorists will never win. I don't know if she "defused" anything, but she surely demonstrated a kind of confidence that is the best thing against warmongers of all kinds. Letting terrorists induce fear means letting them win.

    It's important to know that this kind of quiet bravery has a tradition in Britain. The population handled the German terror against London back in WWII very similarly by going confidently about their business while the bombs were hitting left and right. Pubs were even fuller than usual, with people suggesting that occasional air raids ("maybe once a week") wouldn't be too bad and chatting about bombings like about the weather: "It's quite blitzy today, isn't it?".

    Not much different during the terror bombings in 2007. Typical reaction: ""They did their worst, and they managed to disrupt our transport network and get fatalities in the low double figures. That happens on a fairly regular basis anyway, you twits. What's your next trick - a fiendish weather control device which makes it rain on a bank holiday weekend?"

    Terrorists can't win again THAT. No way.

  48. Britian is a tyrrany by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Britian is a tyrrany

  49. Ahem... try reading again first. by denzacar · · Score: 1

    Beyond subsection 1. Namely, subsection 3.

    Here it is again, for your convenience:

    (3)The use or threat of action falling within subsection (2) which involves the use of firearms or explosives is terrorism whether or not subsection (1)(b) is satisfied.

    I.e. Subsection 1(b) does not matter.
    ANY threat or action with guns or explosives against anything is automagically terrorism as long as they can claim that you were doing it for reasons under 1(c).

    It is a very, very, VERY broad definition.
    Basically, you could get charged with a terrorist threat for saying things like "I should shot you for doing X" or even "I'm going to shoot that phone if it rings again!" - threat of disrupting an electronic system, automagic terrorism.

    All they need from you is to answer one simple question. "Why?"
    BOOM! Instant ideology!
    Answering why, means that you have reasons, which means you reasoned "why" before doing it, which means you created specific rules and reasons to support your "why" - which means that you have an ideology.
    Which covers 1(c), which makes you a terrorist. Ta-DAH!

    As for your argument for b and c not being satisfied, I already explained how police and their families ARE "a section of the public".
    And as for the vendetta - you can't have a vendetta without an ideology to base it on. Even if it is something as nonsensical as "I hate people wearing blue."

    It is a premeditated, prolonged and continuous act of revenge.
    Again, things like that need specific reasoning and a set of rules WHY they need to continue - i.e. an ideology.
    It does not need to be logical or reasonable reasoning. Most vendettas aren't reasonable anyway.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  50. Caste system is worse than terrorism. by NewYork · · Score: 1

    Caste system is worse than terrorism.
    What makes you think your parents/your children/your women/your houses/your properties are safe from sections of society whom you've abused for thousands of years?
    http://tehelka.com/karnataka-how-a-government-job-spelt-doom-for-37-dalit-families/

  51. Unlike Boston by rhalstead · · Score: 1

    Unlike Boston, instead of rushing to help, people just took out their phones and recorded the act

    1. Re:Unlike Boston by speardane · · Score: 1

      Unlike Boston, instead of rushing to help, people just took out their phones and recorded the act

      perhaps you didn't see the video of the lady scout leader who walked upto one of the terrorists and asked him to handover his weapons, whilst others tried to help?

      Show some respect!

      --
      if "Faith" could be proved with facts - would it still be faith? So why does "Faith" try to present beliefs as fact? -
  52. Contrary to the Liberaks by rhalstead · · Score: 1

    /. is mostly liberals, A good person is prepared to risk all to protect themselves and those around them. When all the stories that never get beyond the local papers, where when confronted with an armed victim the criminal flees without a shot being fired. A minimum of 200,000 lives are saved every year because we are prepared.You can not depend on the government or police saving you no matter how much surveillance they have. And no, it is not like the ols west over here.

  53. Cynical reaction to an atrocity by speardane · · Score: 1
    Such appalling cynicism! http://bbc.in/16XHjlO

    So the UK intelligence services knew about both of those filmed in Woolwich - but they were not regarded as priorities

    i.e. the intelligence people didn't have enough resources! So if they can't identify the dangerous "needle in a haystack" making the haystack several thousandfold bigger will help?

    Clearly the politicians feel no more responsibility for the inadequate resourcing than the poor tax laws!

    A good sound-bite is so much better than thinking a problem through and finding an apt solution.

    --
    if "Faith" could be proved with facts - would it still be faith? So why does "Faith" try to present beliefs as fact? -