I did not believe the official story of Hasna Ait Buolacehn the moment I saw it. The official line was that she was a suicide bomber who blew herself up when the police stormed the apartment in St Denis where the alleged terrorist ringleader was hiding out. But that story seemed to me completely incompatible with the recordings on which she could plainly be heard screaming “He is not my boyfriend! He is not my boyfriend” immediately before the explosion. She sounded like a terrified woman trying to disassociate herself from the alleged terrorist. It was a strange battle cry for someone who believed themselves on the verge of paradise.
Then yesterday the truth emerged from forensics that she was indeed not a suicide bomber. None of the mainstream media appeared to find this in any way troubling. And just in case anybody did, the BBC (and I assume all the French and major international media) then immediately did an interview with an anonymous member of the French Police attacking squad, who stated that Hasna was:
“trying to say she was not linked to the terrorists, that she had nothing to do with them and wanted to surrender”.
But he said that due to prior intelligence, “we knew that she was trying to manipulate us”.
Unfortunately this would have been a very great deal more convincing had it been stated 48 hours earlier, rather than only after the original reports that she was a suicide bomber had been corrected on forensic examination. As it is, it looks very much like a post facto justification, a new story to cover the new facts.
Besides, it is very difficult indeed to see what prior intelligence could explain if someone was genuinely trying to surrender or not. There appears to be no information available to the public that gives the slightest indication that Hasna was an extreme Islamist; what public information there is paints the opposite picture. The best the media have been able to dredge up are quotes from friends saying “if she was, then she must have been drugged or brainwashed”. Google it yourself.
But even were she an extreme Islamist, that does not mean she was not attempting to surrender. All of which is a bit nugatory if she were then killed by an explosion triggered by the terrorists themselves. But the changing story about Hasna makes me less than confident that is what actually happened.
I have no difficulty with the principle that the police should shoot people who are shooting at them. I outraged many friends on the left for example by not joining in the criticism of the police for killing Mr Duggan. People who choose to carry guns in my view run a legitimate risk of being shot by the police, it is as simple as that. Jean Charles De Menezes was a totally different case and his murder by police completely unjustifiable. In Paris it appears plain that the police were in a situation of confrontation with armed suspects.
There are severe intelligence disadvantages to killing people with profound knowledge of terrorist organisations. It also cheats the justice system. Nevertheless I can conceive of situations where simply taking out by an explosion a terrorist cell might be justified. But only if you are quite certain of the situation. The case of Hasna is to me troublingly reminiscent of the case of Jean Charles De Menezes, in that it became obvious in the days after his death that everything the police and establishment had leaked to the media about him (leaping over barriers, running through the tunnels, heavy jacket, wires protruding) was a complete, utter and quite deliberate lie.
The media could help if they were in any way rational and dispassionate, or ever questioned an official narrative. It is an urgent and irrepressible question as to why the BBC journalist did not ask the French policeman “and why did you not say this 48 hours ago when you were content to allow the story to run that she was a suicide bomber?”
Similar media manipulation is at use here by the Guardian in telling us the police stormed a “terrorist apartment”. What is a “terrorist apartment”? Are the walls made of semtex? The intent of course is to assure us everybody inside was a terrorist. It is not just the Guardian. The phrase is all over the media. Again, google it.
I am worried in case Hollande’s Rambo impersonation is steamrollering justice. It may well be that Hasna was a dreadful and bloodthirsty terrorist. I do not know. It may well be she was killed by the terrorists not the police. All we know at the moment is she was in an apartment with people who allegedly were terrorists, and died in the “battle”. But I do not trust the changing stories of the authorities.
Now Gauleiter Cameron is ‘reshaping’ the Army. It’s becoming more and more like a Whitehall farce.
David Cameron announces 5,000-strong ‘strike brigades’ to take the fight to terrorists
Britain will spend £178 billion on military equipment over the next decade, David Cameron announces as he vows to ‘defeat the terrorist threat’ and keep Britain safe ‘for generations to come’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/12010688/David-Cameron-announces-5000-strong-strike-brigades-to-take-the-fight-to-terrorists.html
Below that there is this:
Millions face council tax rises to help tackle social care funding crisis
Local authorities will be given the power to raise council tax by an additional 2 per cent to help plug the shortfall in social care funding
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/12010696/Millions-face-council-tax-rises-to-help-tackle-social-care-funding-crisis.html
Funny old country isn’t it?
Node :Do you now regret arguing for UK military intervention in Libya?
Resident Dissident : No – I do regret how the Islamists used the power vacuum that arose afterwards – but even without Western intervention Ghadaffi or his successor would have fallen eventually (as tyrants always do) leaving an even greater power vacuum. The lesson is not to intervene, but how to intervene and with whom and how to handle the subsequent transition.
OK, I think this is what you said :
Did I get anything wrong?
It’s not gratifying enough to see the trolls dive for cover, hoping their paddled, crimson butt-cheeks will fade with our memory .
It’s not sufficient for redemption of any thin error they make for that matter.
But it’s close… 🙂
“Libyans had free water, free health care, free electricity they lived rent free and they all had jobs!”
You don’t actually believe all that do you?
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Libya.aspx
Agent Cameron is moving towards war:
The prime minister is to make a war statement to MPs on Thursday, the day after Osborne’s spending review, and he will give them up to a week to digest his argument before deciding whether to call a Commons vote before the December recess.
There is speculation in Westminster that political opinion has shifted in favour of British involvement in Syria. The unanimous support in the UN security council for a resolution calling on member states to take all necessary means to eradicate Isis in the wake of the Paris assault is believed to have helped change the mood among MPs.
But the relevant UN resolution does not allow for war against Syria. It restricts all action to international law and the UN Charter. “Who cares,” might Cameron think. Well, the Russians do. And they will have a say on this issue.
Mary, I know that Habbs may not be nice to you and I suppose you may have cause to raise an eyebrow to his twig of an olive branch, but I would be interested to hear your views about Palestinian charities or of a genuine bridge building Palestinian / Israeli charity. If there are charities acceptable to both the partial and impartial, as it were, then that would be worth knowing. That would be a little stepping stone.
(The Irish judge joke tho apt was neither funny nor racist.)
I don’t think Putin is too worried about UK involvement mark, unless invoking NATO protocols creates a flank of unity for the West.
Russian subs in the vicinity starts to make some sense.
Mary, I know the bloke who writes Theresa May’s Speeches…nice bloke and everything and he is still in love with Our Spanish Ambassador…She is very Spanish and Very Emotional..Her Daughter Teaches in One Of The Best Schools in The UK
She never invited him to Spain..She invited My Wife and Me
And He – almost certainly still a virgin – has invited us to his 60th Birthday Party..
Well Of Course We are Going..He has got a Really Good Band on.
Maybe She will turn up too..He really does love her…but he has never lived with another woman except his Mum.
This Man is writing UK Policy. This is Our Government.
Tony
Which is also why it was a disastrous decision to kill bin Laden (if that is indeed what happened). If he was killed, one wonders if people were afraid of what he might reveal.
Tony_Opmoc
Your giving away personal details about identifiable people. Think on, lad.
Fascist armies are not always weak. The Wehrmacht had the greatest combat power per soldier of any army up to now, as Dupuy’s studies show.
Maybe one day, I will write a book but there is no way if I did write a book -it would compare with this guy’s book..He is distraught at the moment cos his Mum has died and he has to sort out his wife’s passport very quickly to travel from The USA to Europe..and if you look around occasionally you might discover such Talent as This Russian Man. I don’t know his real name…but this guy is class..He may have been born in The UK..I don’t know…but he writes brilliantly
http://thesaker.is/latest-articles/
He could yet make my Journalist of The Year 2015
He just finds all the evidence – and lays it down thick.
Tony
” it means Israel will always be able to defend itself, and exist. They really hate the thought that Israel can’t be wiped out by its neighbours.”
False
I was Wondering Where You had gotten To Tony O.. Congratz on the Baby And Peace Dude
My 11;47 Post – False.. And Quntify
Basic Truism;
Dead men tell no tales. Mafioso recognized this truism one hundred years ago when their organization was created to level the unjust playing field made so by corrupt government officials and police.
“Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians and bureaucrats lie to hide the truth”
In my personal opinion anyone who hides a truism to the detriment of the masses is open to the charge of mass murder. Evidentiary protocols would proceed as the court deems necessary. Although technically Terrorists, they will not be rendered to those more backward locales of legal convenience. They will be tried as criminals in a court of law; an option they themselves might deny others for lesser offenses.
Dear Trolls and Trollops;
Was my midnight posting legible enough and with enough small words/lower case for comprehension?
I strive to serve my readership.
“o”
BrianFujisan,
There are several arguments about Who Exactly is Responsible For The Mess We are in..
The Americans and The Israelis do not come out well – on The Scale of The Nicest People on Earth..
Us British Do Rather Well…
It seems to me that Everyone wants to Move To The UK
They want to move here and live in England..and that is Because Us English are So Nice.
And That is Something to Be Proud of.
Tony
Tony
There is Not a … Person on Craig’s That don’t Know your Peace… And we Love to hear From ..at least I do..Noo…Rabbit Hole 16. 🙂
Craig; OK
Invoice #99 1/2won’t do-need one hunnert percent
Infestation/Extermination—6.3 hours
Based on prior agreed terms (30 days net) the suspects have been absent for the period of time required.
$3.94
Please remit within 30 days
Everyone just assumes my wife and I Have always been together as if she was my Childhood Sweetheart..Well She is My Childhood Sweetheart…
We are Still together and in Love after all this time.
Tony
” It’s not hard to imagine what would happen if a Palestinian terrorist were to break into an Israeli hospital, abduct a patient from his bed and kill the cousin who was nursing him. But when the police counterterrorism unit and Shin Bet security service do it, they are cheered here. Next time Israeli propagandists complain about the use Palestinians make of hospitals, they should be reminded of Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron, and the private hospital in Nablus, where our undercover heroes raided, confiscated, abducted and killed.”
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2015/11/22/way-to-go-israel/
Tony ..The Wee Faery Tale Dude Kuddos
Some of the older members of my family can remember my Girlfriend before I met My Wife…and They all Assumed We were going to get Married and Have Babies..We were obviously in love too
She is Alive and Well Too…
It’s Her Kids who are Top Lawyers…
She texted me Yesterday…Are you doing O.K.?
She has met my wife – they got on Really Well…
You have put up with him for 34 years???!!!…I only managed a year or so.
They had something in common.
Both Fit Rock Chicks – Even Now.
Tony
Off to Sleep Tony.. Picked Up Fractured Rib At Jujitsu… Fnk Murder..Stay Safe n Peace
” “Libyans had free water, free health care, free electricity they lived rent free and they all had jobs!”
You don’t actually believe all that do you? ”
Didn’t you know? All the years we thought Gaddafi was a deranged tyrant ruling with fear and oppression he was really presiding over a socialist paradise! Just odd nobody knew this until after he died.
Healthcare may have been free but it was of very poor quality and the unemployment rate was 30%. Still there area always some gullible souls who will believe otherwise.
http://www.allsiam.net/libya/
Craig, as you say, you don’t know. But thanks for the opinion anyway…
When you have the facts, which is often, your analysis and opinion is fantastic. But in the absence of such facts, you just contribute to the fevered and uninformed speculation. Not so helpful.
I’m thinking also of your piece on Jacky Sutton’s death at Istanbul airport – the last time I saw you suggest conclusions in the absence of facts. Anything to add to that? Last I read in the press, the family appeared to accept the suicide theory based on CCTV from the airport but the story got no more coverage that I noticed, which is weird in itself.
Job for the (establishment) girl
BBC appoints Sarah Smith as first ever Scotland editor
Former Channel 4 News correspondent to take on newly created role in 2016 as part of corporation’s efforts to expand often criticised Scottish coverage
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/19/bbc-appoints-sarah-smith-as-first-ever-scotland-editor
I am sure that she will frame her output from an IndyRef viewpoint. Not!
For Kirchner read Macri.
Sounds familiar?
‘Macri, who is backed by big business and private media, has promised to introduce free market reforms, including greater privatization and re-establishing links with international organizations like the IMF. Critics say his policies favor the wealthy and big business at the expense of sidelining problems of systemic inequality.’
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Initial-Result-Right-Wing-Takes-Argentina-in-Presidential-Race-20151122-0022.html
He is thrice married. Sexist. Racist.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/6-Most-Outrageous-Quotes-by-Argentine-Candidate-Macri-20151119-0037.html