Posted by Bill on 03/10/90 11:55

In our country, we used to wait until there was a trial, evidence
presented, counter-evidence, and a conviction before finding people
guilty of charges.

The British are following the pattern of the American and, recently,
Canadian police: make a host of charges public without the usual legal
process, and long before any trials take place, so the suspects have no
opportunity to defend themselves before the public gets a chance to
believe that your brilliant police force has once again saved the day.

Obviously, there are real terrorists. It is equally obvious that the
police and the government (at least Blair and Bush) benefit from the
public believing that these plots are real, and not just chat-room
bravado. I will congratulate the police once they've actually presented
real evidence and the suspects have had an opportunity to defend themselves.


mv@movingvision.co.uk wrote:

> But just a little patriotic rant from me. The British 'police' (actually
> MI5 and MI6) have done an excellent job of counter terrorism, however
> the American media barely acknowledge it, even claiming a significant US
> part in the operation, meantime the Pakistanis are also suggesting that
> it's all due to them too. The fact is that this operation has been
> underway since January. The mad buggers have been under surveillance and
> brilliantly infiltrated all that time. The US agencies by and large only
> being recipients of intelligence information from the Brits. The
> Pakistanis were merely used by the Brits to arrest two guys who had
> conveniently gone to Pakistan where they could be 'effectively
> interrogated'. Just thought I'd mention it because the understated and
> ultra low profile UK intelligence folks will never crow from the roof
> tops on their own behalf. Been going on like this since WWII.

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