Counter-terrorism awareness initiative launched (From Sutton Guardian)

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken

i could not agree more mrtis

Ermmm, yes 'metis' that attempt at sounding profound might have worked if there was no basis for the Met's warnings. But crikey...I seem to remember there being in the very recent past suicide bombers on the london transport network both successful AND failed, at Glasgow airport and the failed attempt by 11 london men to blow up transatlantic airliners midair between the UK and US in 2006. So surely your quote selection on this occasion was pretty bloody poor because the Met is not scaring people 'with an endless series of hobgoblins, ALL OF THEM IMAGINARY' but warning them of the very unpleasant reality that there are, albeit it a very small number, of very toxic religious psychopaths living in London and the UK. Or am I just a representative of 'practical politics' aka THE SYSTEM trying to scare the masses?

Metis and supporters do not see that this country has suffered from terrorism and can do so again. Perhaps they see us being prepared for such terrible events is an act of non-politically correct racism, targeting suspicous persons for close observation as a way of denying their 'uman rights! We must be kind to those plotting against us lest we become too elitist.

Yes, Putneysw you have a point. I wonder if we would have such a problem with these people had we not intervened in their countries and had our borders not been better controlled in the first place. I also wonder if the 'failed' attempts were the result of undercover operations. Its one thing to ask the public to be vigilant another to cow them into ever more restrictive 'security' measures.
Permit me to irritate you further with a quote from Franklin:
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Hmmm, so we intervened in the country of the 7/7 bombers? They were all british, mostly of Pakistani heritage. So you're saying we intervened on ourselves or pakistan? No! The failed bombers on 21.07.05 (who failed thankfully because they were such incompetent holy warriors) were British, Somalian & Ethiopian - so when did we intervene in either Somalia or Ethiopia. The Glasgow bombers were British and Indian, so again - No! - or do you want to start talking about the British Empire now? I do not know the backgrounds of the 2006 failed bombers, but even if they did have say iraqi heritage, does that justify suicide bombing public airliners?

And just because people can hide in the back of Lorries and get into the UK illegally that means we deserve to have bombs going off on our public transportation systems? Look I guess i'm just not as fond of public self-flagellation as you are.

Yes I agree people from certain ethnic backgrounds will be unfairly discriminated against by the police and the police will make mistakes, that is inevitable. But when 99.9% of the individuals who commit these crimes come from certain ethnic backgrounds, which is just a fact, then such a situation is unavoidable.

And also, you're right - there are people around the world who have suffered from the British State's reckless behaviour abroad but I'm sorry I do not think suicide bombs in crowded public places can EVER be argued to be a legitimate war tactic and when it's held up as not just legitimate but as a glorious holy act - then we should be extremely worried by such people and be willing to fight them which is what our security forces are doing every day. Oh and the 2006 plot to kill god knows how many 100s of people in midair over the atlantic was 'failed' because of operations by the Met and the security services, they were all arrested and monitored throughout their preparations making liquid explosives to detonate on board planes. Because of their actions, that is the reason, bringing fluids onto aircraft since 2006 has been highly restricted, another 'more restrictive secuirty measure'!

Some advice, through out your Book of Quotes!

'throw' even

Putneysw15 wrote:
Hmmm, so we intervened in the country of the 7/7 bombers? They were all british, mostly of Pakistani heritage. So you're saying we intervened on ourselves or pakistan? No! The failed bombers on 21.07.05 (who failed thankfully because they were such incompetent holy warriors) were British, Somalian & Ethiopian - so when did we intervene in either Somalia or Ethiopia. The Glasgow bombers were British and Indian, so again - No! - or do you want to start talking about the British Empire now? I do not know the backgrounds of the 2006 failed bombers, but even if they did have say iraqi heritage, does that justify suicide bombing public airliners?

And just because people can hide in the back of Lorries and get into the UK illegally that means we deserve to have bombs going off on our public transportation systems? Look I guess i'm just not as fond of public self-flagellation as you are.

Yes I agree people from certain ethnic backgrounds will be unfairly discriminated against by the police and the police will make mistakes, that is inevitable. But when 99.9% of the individuals who commit these crimes come from certain ethnic backgrounds, which is just a fact, then such a situation is unavoidable.

And also, you're right - there are people around the world who have suffered from the British State's reckless behaviour abroad but I'm sorry I do not think suicide bombs in crowded public places can EVER be argued to be a legitimate war tactic and when it's held up as not just legitimate but as a glorious holy act - then we should be extremely worried by such people and be willing to fight them which is what our security forces are doing every day. Oh and the 2006 plot to kill god knows how many 100s of people in midair over the atlantic was 'failed' because of operations by the Met and the security services, they were all arrested and monitored throughout their preparations making liquid explosives to detonate on board planes. Because of their actions, that is the reason, bringing fluids onto aircraft since 2006 has been highly restricted, another 'more restrictive secuirty measure'!

Some advice, through out your Book of Quotes!

Well said!