July 13, 2005

BEING ECONOMICAL WITH THE TRUTH

Rucksack gang filmed at King's Cross 'looked like the infantry going to war' (John Steele, Telegraph, 7/13/05)

The critical breakthrough in the hunt for the London bombers came on Monday night in a police video viewing suite.

Detectives involved in watching thousands of hours of film for glimpses of the terrorists had been given a "profile" based on a simple question posed for their guidance by senior officers.

The question was: what would the terrorists look like? The answer was that they would be young men, probably in their 20s and 30s, and they would be carrying rucksacks.

At 8pm on Monday, on footage from a camera at King's Cross station in central London, officers found images of four young men carrying bulky rucksacks, similar to those in which soldiers carry radios.

One source observed: "It was like the infantry going to war, or like they were going on a hiking holiday."

One of the faces was known. It belonged to Hasib Hussain. . . .

Yes, they'd look young. That's how they were picked out -- "young" people with backpacks really stand out on the Tube. In other news, the debate over police cameras just ended.

Posted by David Cohen at July 13, 2005 10:06 AM
Comments

I am deeply shocked and saddened that the police were looking for "men". This stereotyping of half the population as potential murderers is the most grotesque form of profiling. I urge the UK police to immediately implement sensitivity training so they may better understand the harm caused by their bigotry.

Posted by: b at July 13, 2005 11:28 AM

Just wait until the jihadis start using prams (probably with babies in them). I think it's already happened in Israel. Certainly children have been used as mules.

Posted by: ratbert at July 13, 2005 11:45 AM

What debate is that?

Cameras useful for law enforcement? Yes.

Cameras useful for stopping terrorist attacks? No.

Is there disagreement on that?

Posted by: Rick T. at July 13, 2005 3:51 PM

The debate one side of which argues that there is a right to privacy over things that happen in public.

Posted by: David Cohen at July 13, 2005 5:08 PM

If the breakthrough was not a tip from the peaceloving Muslims of Britain, then it does not matter, in any way, how the breakthrough did occur.

Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 13, 2005 6:26 PM
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