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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."

45 of 307 comments (clear)

  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 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"?

    3. 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.

    4. 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!
    5. 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)
    6. 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.

    7. 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.

    8. 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.

    9. 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
    10. 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.

    11. 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.

    12. 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.

    13. 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
    14. 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.

    15. 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.

    16. 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

    17. 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!
    18. 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.

    19. 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!
    20. 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.
    21. 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.

    22. 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...
    23. 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?

    24. 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...

    25. 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.

    26. 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."
    27. 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!

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

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

  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.
  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 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.
    2. 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.

    3. 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.
  4. 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.

  5. 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.
  6. 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 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.

  7. 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!
  8. 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
  9. 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?

  10. 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.
  11. 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.

  12. 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.