Monday, June 12, 2006
Downgrading on the level of intelligence gained.
Here we go in my newspaper the other day that our Prime Minister, Tony Blair has said...
"I support the police 101 per cent - and the security services. I think if they have a reasonable piece of intelligence they believe they have got to investigate - take action on - they should. You can only imagine if they fail to take action and something terrible happened what outcry would be then, so they are in an impossible situation."
Well, well, Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman said they got "specific intelligence" about a reported chemical device, now Tony Blair calls it "a reasonable piece of intelligence". Who will be the next guy to downgrade this intelligence into a a rumour and then another guy to turn the intelligence into a whisper or chatter on the internet?
If there had been a chemical device that had exploded, then the government could easily have covered up any knowledge that they may have held beforehand and the public would have been none the wiser. Once in a while there is an atrocity whereby some nutter kills innocent civilians with a gun or a knife. There would be no intelligence before to suggest that this nutter would strike, it is the great unknown. A lot of people have in their homes matches and kitchen knives. This does not make the average citizen an arsonist or stabbing murderer. The Canadian alledged terrorists were trying to purchase 3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which when used with a mobile telephone and some fuel oil could explode against the Canadian parliament. In my day job I have a mobile telephone and when I start my day I am sitting infront of 400 litres of fuel oil, does this make me a terrorist? No, it does not - I am the same risk to society as any other member of our country. I do not want the Police breaking into my home at 4 o'clock in the morning, shooting me in the shoulder and holding me without trial for over a week. On what, a flimsy rumour that I am a terrorist in preparation of an attack? What about all the match and knife holding residents of the UK, are they all potential arsonists and murderers? Of course not, we are not stupid - these terrorists just look a little different to us! It is clear to me who has lost the plot here and the tabloid press will lap it up.
Here we go in my newspaper the other day that our Prime Minister, Tony Blair has said...
"I support the police 101 per cent - and the security services. I think if they have a reasonable piece of intelligence they believe they have got to investigate - take action on - they should. You can only imagine if they fail to take action and something terrible happened what outcry would be then, so they are in an impossible situation."
Well, well, Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman said they got "specific intelligence" about a reported chemical device, now Tony Blair calls it "a reasonable piece of intelligence". Who will be the next guy to downgrade this intelligence into a a rumour and then another guy to turn the intelligence into a whisper or chatter on the internet?
If there had been a chemical device that had exploded, then the government could easily have covered up any knowledge that they may have held beforehand and the public would have been none the wiser. Once in a while there is an atrocity whereby some nutter kills innocent civilians with a gun or a knife. There would be no intelligence before to suggest that this nutter would strike, it is the great unknown. A lot of people have in their homes matches and kitchen knives. This does not make the average citizen an arsonist or stabbing murderer. The Canadian alledged terrorists were trying to purchase 3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which when used with a mobile telephone and some fuel oil could explode against the Canadian parliament. In my day job I have a mobile telephone and when I start my day I am sitting infront of 400 litres of fuel oil, does this make me a terrorist? No, it does not - I am the same risk to society as any other member of our country. I do not want the Police breaking into my home at 4 o'clock in the morning, shooting me in the shoulder and holding me without trial for over a week. On what, a flimsy rumour that I am a terrorist in preparation of an attack? What about all the match and knife holding residents of the UK, are they all potential arsonists and murderers? Of course not, we are not stupid - these terrorists just look a little different to us! It is clear to me who has lost the plot here and the tabloid press will lap it up.
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