Don't Shoot I'm Brazillian...

"Police shoot bomber on tube" screamed the headlines on Saturday morning....unfortunately its now emerged that the man shot five times in the head by armed police was, er a Brazilian electrician.

Cue various pieces in the more right-wing press of the difficult job undertaken by our armed police, split second decision, need to protect the public etc. The message seems to be 'tragic but understandable'.

This seems to miss the point - what of the intelligence linking the man to the bombings ? The fact that he was seen leaving a suspect address and had dark skin hardly seems satisfactory. Is anyone wearing a coat on the tube with vaguely middle-Eastern/south Asian looks a target ?

The UK police, it has to be said, do not have a sterling record in terrorism cases; the strategy, when faced with IRA bombings in the 70s seemed to be to find the nearest Irishmen, fabricate evidence and beat confessions out of the suspects. This seems all the more poignant when various 'experts' in the media point out that intelligence on the IRA was, generally, far greater than anything the police or MI5 have on this new threat.

After 7th July much was made of one of the suspected bombers trip to Pakistan...unfortunately it was not to be. It later turned out that a Hasib Hussain had visited Pakistan...but alas not the same Hasib Hussain as was pictured in CCTV footage but a 16 year old of the same name.

Beginning to look worrying like kindergarten cops...