De Menezes 'was killed without warning'

Independent 31 October 2008

Scotland Yard marksmen who shot dead Jean Charles de Menezes did not identify themselves as police officers before opening fire, according to three witnesses who saw the Brazilian electrician being killed.

The evidence, given by passengers who were in the same Tube train carriage as Mr de Menezes when he was shot on 22 July 2005, contradicts statements made by the Metropolitan Police. Both of the armed officers who shot Mr de Menezes have told the inquest they shouted "armed police" before firing. This claim has also been corroborated by other officers who were on the train on the day Mr de Menezes was killed.

But yesterday three witnesses said they heard no such shout. Their testimonies appear to lend weight to the accusation levelled by Michael Mansfield QC, representing Mr de Menezes' family, earlier in the week that the Metropolitan Police officers have "embellished", "exaggerated" and "lied" during their evidence.

Ralph Livock and his girlfriend Rachel Wilson were sitting opposite Mr de Menezes, 27, in the Tube carriage at Stockwell station in south London on 22 July, the inquest heard. Mr Livock recalled that the train was held up at the station, when four men, casually dressed and carrying guns, got on board and shot Mr de Menezes seven times in the head at point blank range. Asked by Nicholas Hilliard QC, counsel to the inquest, whether the men had said anything about being police officers before opening fire, Mr Livock said: "No, certainly not.

"And I remember that specifically because one of the conversations that Rachel and I had afterwards was that we had no idea whether these were police, whether they were terrorists, whether they were somebody else. We just had no idea."

When Mr Hilliard asked Ms Wilson, "Did you ever hear anybody shout 'armed police'?", she answered, "If I had heard that, I would have thought they were police, so no". Asked the same question later, she again insisted that no one had shouted "armed police" adding: "That's one of the things I recall the most – the silence."

The couple said they initially thought the officers were pranksters playing a game. Mr Livock said: "One of my initial thoughts was it was all a game and they were a group of lads who were just having a laugh – a very bad taste laugh, but just having a game on the Tube, because they were just dressed in jeans and T-shirts but with firearms. The thing that made me realise it wasn't a group of lads playing around or something else happening was when the first shot was fired." Ms Wilson added: "I thought they were messing around. Then I thought they were terrorists and it was only when I left the carriage and somebody moved me gently out of the way that I figured they must be good guys. Apart from that, I just didn't know who they were."

Mr Livock described the moments just before Mr de Menezes was killed. "He looked as if he was expecting somebody to say something but he didn't look frightened," he said. "He looked as if he was waiting for somebody to tell him what was going on."

Another commuter, Wesley Merrill, told the court he saw a man come on to the train and point at Mr de Menezes, saying "that's the guy". He said he could not recall any of the officers saying anything to Mr de Menezes.

Mr Mansfield has said the officers who killed Mr de Menezes did not "honestly and genuinely" believe the Brazilian electrician was an immediate threat at the time they pulled the trigger. He says they are embellishing their version of events in statements and evidence in order to convince people that they believed Mr de Menezes was a suicide bomber.

The officers have denied this, with one, codenamed C5, saying: "I don't think anyone was callous enough to think they would write themselves out of trouble."

The inquest, at the Oval, in south London, continues.

Speaking with one voice: What the officers said

Delta9 (firearms officer): "I could hear people shouting 'armed police'"

Ken (surveillance officer): "I heard 'armed police' shouted loudly"

Ivor (surveillance officer): "I could hear shouting"

Geoff (surveillance officer): "I then heard shouting from the direction of the open doors which included the word 'police'"

C5 (firearms officer): "I heard shouts of 'armed police'"

C12 (one of the two firearms officers who shot Mr de Menezes): "I did challenge 'armed police'"

C2 (the other firearms officer who shot Mr de Menezes): "I shouted 'armed police' and I held my handgun to the head of the subject and I fired"

No 7/7 Inquiry ?

BBC News 2 May 2007

Blair rejects 7/7 inquiry calls

Tony Blair has again rejected calls for a fresh inquiry into the 7/7 attacks, saying it would undermine the security services.

The prime minister repeatedly dismissed Tory leader David Cameron's demands for a "proper independent inquiry".

He also told MPs at Commons question time that it would divert resources from the fight against terrorism.

Survivors of the 2005 attack renewed their calls for an inquiry on Monday after the fertiliser bomb plot trial.

It emerged at the end of the year-long court case that MI5 had watched and followed two of the 7 July bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, a year before the attacks as part of their surveillance of the fertiliser bomb plotters.

Calls for a fresh inquiry into the 7/7 attacks grew after it emerged that MPs and peers on the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) were not shown photographs linking Khan to known militants.

Security sources say MI5 said it did not reveal the images to the parliamentary committee because they were taken by police officers not MI5 operatives.
Mr Blair has asked the ISC to consider why the 7 July bombers were not picked up.

'Hopes dashed

BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said survivors and relatives of the dead had pinned their hopes for news of a public inquiry on the end of the fertiliser trial.

This was the moment the links with the 7 July bombers could be revealed.

Their hopes had been dashed by Mr Blair, our correspondent added.

He said that, if Mr Blair's successor did not take a different view, they would take the government to court in an attempt to find out how 52 people could be killed by two men who had been observed meeting with terrorists on several occasions.

In the Commons, Mr Cameron dismissed the ISC inquiry, saying a full independent inquiry was needed because the committee had limited powers of investigation.

He said people wanted such an inquiry because of "the scale" of what happened in London on July 7 when 52 people were killed.

"The reason people want a full inquiry is to get to the truth," said Mr Cameron.
But Mr Blair said that although the ISC's first inquiry received the "vast bulk" of the information and went into "immense detail", it had to be "cryptic" because the fertiliser bomb trial had not been concluded.

The prime minister said the new ISC inquiry was "perfectly entitled to call for anything else" it needed.

He told MPs: "I don't think it would be responsible for us...to have a full, independent, further inquiry, which would simply have the security service and the police and others diverted from the task of fighting terrorism."

The committee is expected to examine claims that West Yorkshire Police special branch was not told about the MI5 surveillance operation.
However, ISC chairman Paul Murphy MP had previously indicated that police were informed.

Some of those affected by the 2005 attacks delivered a letter to the Home Office on Tuesday requesting an "impartial public inquiry".

They said the government's latest comments reinforced their belief that the ISC was not the appropriate body to conduct an inquiry.

Jacqui Putnam, who survived the Edgware Road bomb, said: "I am left wondering what else MI5 failed to tell the ISC...the committee cannot possibly carry out an effective, independent or impartial 're-inquiry' - it now has a position to defend."

Janine Mitchell, whose husband Paul was seriously injured in the attacks, added: "We have already had an ISC inquiry and it produced a report containing inaccurate and misleading information, based on evidence which was incomplete and as a consequence both the inquiry and its report were fundamentally flawed."

By June 2004 MI5 had part of Khan's name on file twice, a family address and various pictures of him.

The ISC committee investigating 7/7 only ever saw one MI5 photograph of Khan. It did not see other photographs obtained by the BBC. A senior Whitehall source has told the BBC that the committee were aware other pictures existed and could have seen them if they had been requested.

On Monday, five men were given life sentences for a foiled plot to build a huge fertiliser bomb for a UK attack.

BBC News 1 May 2007

Pressure grows for a 7/7 inquiry

Survivors and relatives of victims of the 7 July attacks are stepping up the pressure for a public inquiry into MI5's handling of intelligence.

On Monday it emerged at the end of a year-long terror trial that MI5 had two of the 7 July bombers under surveillance a year before the attacks.

Ministers are opposed to an inquiry but a parliamentary committee will consider why the bombers were not picked up.

Those affected by the 2005 attacks have delivered a letter to the Home Office.

The document, requesting an "impartial public inquiry", was handed to an official from the department.
It says one of the purposes would be "to examine issues aimed at saving lives, minimising suffering and improving the response of government agencies to the continuing threat of terrorist attacks".

The letter was signed by more than 18 people, including 7 July survivors Paul Mitchell and Jacqui Putnam, as well as relatives of those affected - such as Ros Morley, whose husband, Colin, was killed.

Survivor Rachel North said: "This is not about blame but about future public safety - understanding what happened, how it happened and to stop it happening again."
In response, the Home Office released a statement saying the home secretary would "give very careful consideration" to the letter.

The statement added: "However, as we have consistently maintained, experience has shown that a fuller public inquiry can take years and divert huge resources."

On Monday five men were given life sentences for a foiled plot to build a huge fertiliser bomb for a UK attack.

It emerged during the trial that MI5 had tailed London suicide bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer while investigating that case, but took no action.

The BBC has now published a full transcript of an MI5 bugged conversation in which the bomber discusses leaving the UK to join jihadi extremists in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas.

One issue being looked at is what MI5 told both the public and politicians in the wake of the 7 July attacks.
The media were briefed that Khan and fellow bombers were "clean skins" - men with no previous record of terrorist associations.

But evidence following the end of the trial reveals MI5 photographed Khan as he met other extremists, followed him home - and by the summer of 2004 they knew his surname and that he owned a car.

Danny Biddle, who survived the 7 July attacks, said the revelation that there were links between the suicide bombers and those behind the fertiliser plot meant a public inquiry was now essential.

"This is about finding out how this could be allowed to happen and how nobody could stop it. That needs to be investigated and to totally dismiss a public inquiry is shameful."

Paul Dadge, who also survived the London bombings, said he believed the attacks may have been prevented if the leads had been followed, but argued that it was important to praise the security services for securing convictions.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has asked the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to consider why the 7 July bombers were not picked up.

The committee, which comprises MPs and Lords, is expected to examine claims that West Yorkshire Police special branch was not told about the MI5 surveillance operation.

ISC chairman Paul Murphy MP has previously indicated that police were informed.

Former Tory Defence Secretary Lord King cast doubt on the impartiality of the committee, saying it should be led by a member of the Opposition to ensure independence.

Mr Blair rejected calls for a public inquiry, although he said he "totally" understood why some people sought one.

He told GMTV: "The problem if you have an independent public inquiry into something like this is you will divert all their energy and attention into trying to answer the questions that come up in the inquiry."

The revelation that one of the 7 July bombers met up with one of the fertiliser bomb plotters - Omar Khyam - at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan has caused concern.

However, the head of Pakistan's National Crisis Management Centre, Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, said anyone "who spends a lot of money and travels to Pakistan...[is] already motivated for a particular reason".

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have both called for an independent inquiry into the 2005 London bombings.

Bomber with mental age of ten groomed by Muslim fanatics

Daily Mail 16th October 2008

A British Muslim convert with a mental age of ten was groomed over the internet by extremists into becoming a suicide bomber who tried to blow up a packed restaurant.

Anti-terror investigators believe Pakistani radicals targeted Nicky Reilly, 22, because of his history of mental illness.

A plot was hatched involving the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter, where 50 diners, many with their children, were enjoying the half-term break on May 22 this year.

A CCTV image of Muslim convert Nicky Reilly entering the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter where he launched a failed suicide bomb attack

Failed attack: Reilly admitted attempted murder after planning to blow up a family restaurant in Exeter

Reilly entered Giraffe’s toilet and tried to assemble nailbombs from chemicals in bottles, but thankfully he had problems with the lock and three exploded in his hands.

He was arrested when he staggered outside with serious facial injuries in the blast on May 22.

Yesterday, Reilly, who has changed his name to Mohammad Abdul-Aziz Rashid Saeed-Alim, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to preparing a terrorist attack and attempted murder.

After the attack police searching his home in Plymouth found a suicide note in which he quoted Osama Bin Laden and evidence that other possible targets had been a police station and a shopping centre.

A large number of extremist websites and a video titled ‘homemade bombs’ were found on his computer.

He had gone online to find out how to make bombs and discuss targets with chatroom contacts in Pakistan.

Officers are still trying to trace the extremist cell that successfully targeted him via his YouTube page – on which he called himself Chechen233.

The case is a chilling echo of terrorist methods in Iraq, where the disabled have been persuaded to blow themselves up.

Reilly’s bungled attack came as a shock to police, but it emerged that the 6ft 3in, 18-stone bomber was ‘known’ to officers.

Reilly, circled in red, was spotted on CCTV shortly before the attack. Below, he is arrested by police after the failed bombing which left him with serious facial injuries

Yesterday he was remanded in custody for sentencing on November 21.

The judge, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said Reilly had ‘long nursed an ambition’ to become a martyr.

He said: ‘During the early months of 2008 he was in frequent touch with apparently two other people as yet unidentified with whom he discussed his plans and from who he received a certain amount of encouragement and information over the internet using a website called Chechen233.

'There was some debate, which is revealed by comments on the computer,
about what sort of person should be targeted in due course, whether public servants such as police officers or other public servants or ordinary citizens.

‘In the end the decision was made to target ordinary citizens in a restaurant.’

The bottle bomb with which Nicky Reilly attempted his suicide attack, and right, the scene in the toilet cubicle after the device exploded in his face

Over several months, the court heard, he bought enough materials to make two types of bomb.

The judge said: ‘He appears to have tried to increase the potential for injury and death both to himself and others by putting chemicals in glass bottles and filling those bottles with a total of around 500 nails.’

With six bottles in a rucksack, three containing caustic soda, three kerosene and another chemical contained in drain cleaner, Reilly took the bus from Plymouth to Exeter and, after a cup of coffee, went into the Giraffe toilets.

‘As he prepared the caustic soda devices in the toilet of the restaurant they began to
explode,’ Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said.

Nicky Reilly (left) as a boy, pictured with his younger brother Luke

‘He was subsequently, as the world knows, arrested and injured himself.’

After the case, Assistant Chief Constable Debbie Simpson of Devon and Cornwall Police said: ‘The incident in Exeter shows that terrorism remains a real and serious threat to all communities across the UK and not just our major cities.’

Incredibly, Reilly’s YouTube page was still online yesterday. It included clips of the September 11 attacks and a video entitled‘How to make a benzine bomb’.

We can't defeat Taleban, says Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith

The Times 6 October 2008

The departing commander of British forces in Afghanistan says he believes the Taleban will never be defeated.

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, whose troops have suffered severe casualties after six months of tough fighting, will hand over to 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines this month.

He told The Times that in his opinion, a military victory over the Taleban was “neither feasible nor supportable”.

“What we need is sufficient troops to contain the insurgency to a level where it is not a strategic threat to the longevity of the elected Government,” he said.
The brigadier said that his troops had “taken the sting out of the Taleban” during clashes in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, but at a heavy cost. His brigade suffered 32 killed and 170 injured during its six-month tour of duty. The 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment alone lost 11 soldiers, most of them killed by roadside bombs or other explosive devices.

The brigadier’s grim prognosis follows a leaked cable by François Fitou, the deputy French Ambassador in Kabul, claiming that Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British Ambassador, had told him the strategy for Afghanistan was “doomed to failure”.

In the cable, Mr Fitou told President Sarkozy that Sir Sherard believed “the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption and the Government has lost all trust”. He said Sir Sherard had told him Britain had no alternative but to support the US, “but we should tell them that we want to be part of a winning strategy, not a losing one. The American strategy is doomed to fail.”

Brigadier Carleton-Smith admitted that it had been “a turbulent summer” but he said that the Taleban were “riven with deep fissures and fractures”.

He added: “However, the Taleban, tactically, is reasonably resilient, certainly quite dangerous and seems relatively impervious to losses. Its potency is as a force for influence.”

He indicated that the only way forward was to find a political solution that would include the Taleban. The Government of President Karzai has launched a reconciliation programme, although the hard core of Taleban commanders is thought to be implacably opposed to any compromise. Efforts are being focused on the so-called “tier-two” and “tier-three” Taleban, who are perceived to be less ideologically intransigent.

The brigadier said that in the areas where the Government had no control, the Afghan population was “vulnerable to a shifting coalition of Taleban, mad mullahs and marauding militias”. In other areas, however, progress was being made and children were going back to school. “We are trying to deliver sufficient security for a degree of normalisation,” he said.

The British commander said that more foreign trainers were needed to help to build up the competence of the Afghan National Army. He suggested that they would be provided by the Americans. He said that there had been a government vacuum for 30 years, and even now the central Government in Kabul did not view Helmand as a key province. He said that in some areas the Afghan people were now beginning to shift their allegiance towards traditional power structures “rather than the shadowy and illegal structures” of the Taleban and the warlords.

UK Lockdown point of view
Defeating the so-called Taliban is pointless and won't solve any of the problems in our society, the various problems faced by our society are not being caused by Afghan's, Iraqi's or Iranians our problems are being caused by Zionist Jews and it is they Carleton-Smith and others in the military should be working to defeat in order to save our society from imminent economic destruction.

Bloodiest year so far in Afghanistan

Daily Mail 6 October 2008

British forces are now being killed in Afghanistan at a faster rate than during the invasion of Iraq.

This year has been the bloodiest year so far in Afghanistan for the Nato and US missions there since the Taleban was removed from government in 2001, with senior defence officials in the UK admitting the Taleban are proving "more resilient" than expected.

Parts of Afghanistan are on a "spiral downwards", according to the incoming US Commander of Centcom, General David Petraeus, in charge of a wide area including all US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An analysis of the official casualty figures released in August by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Britain, shows that in Afghanistan from 31 March to 17 August, UK soldiers were being killed at a rate of eight per 1,000 personnel years. This followed a sharp increase in roadside bomb attacks by insurgents.

During the first six weeks of the invasion of Iraq, the death toll was six per 1,000 personnel years.

The MRC's statistics also showed that from 31 March to 17 August 2008, in Afghanistan there were 24 UK deaths out of a force of 8,000, but during the same 20-week period in Iraq there were no deaths of UK soldiers out of a deployment of 4,000.
The coalition death rate in Iraq stood at 7.5 per 1,000 personnel years during the worst of the fighting. It is now down to under three per 1,000 personnel years in Iraq since the successful US surge.

Senior military figures in both Britain and the US confirm that insurgents in Afghanistan are adopting methods used by the insurgency in Iraq, and that while the situation in Iraq is now 'heading in the right direction', the campaign in Afghanistan is badly in need of concerted efforts to unify the chain of command and bring a new coherence to the international mission.

Britain has 7,800 troops, stationed mainly in Helmand Province, while the US has some 33,000 troops in Afghanistan in total, with 13,000 of those serving as part of the Nato-led coalition.

However, defence sources have made clear that there will be no new British troop reinforcements for Afghanistan beyond the extra 230 service personnel due to be deployed by the end of this year.

In contrast to Britain, the US is reinforcing its troop numbers in Afghanistan as it prepares to withdraw thousands of troops from Iraq.

US General David McKiernan, who has oversight of the US-led mission Operation Enduring Freedom, told reporters in Washington this week: "The idea that it might get worse before it gets better is certainly a possibility."

Although he also insisted he was certain the insurgents "would not win".

The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, has also asked Nato members to contribute more cash towards doubling the size of the Afghan National Army to 134,000 troops in four years' time and reinforcing the Afghan Police, with the building up of both forces key to any eventual exit strategy for the West.

There is an acknowledgement today that Afghanistan's size, geography, demographics and history present a more complex challenge than was perhaps realised in the heady, early days of 2001.

Multinational forces are trying to come to grips with an insurgency in an under-developed, socially-conservative country traumatised by 30 years of war and civil conflict, in a nation in which 70% of people live in isolated, rural regions.

Mastiffs and Jackals

However, while many in the West are gloomy about the lack of progress being made in Afghanistan, the picture in Iraq is looking increasingly optimistic, even though commanders warn that the gains made remain fragile and reversible.

It is expected that the 4,000 British forces still stationed in Basra will begin to draw down in earnest some time next year. No British servicemen or women have been killed in Iraq since this March, although their main base at Basra air station is still the target of some rocket attacks by militants.

In Afghanistan, it is roadside bombs which pose the biggest threat.

They now account for almost 60% of coalition deaths, highlighting the vulnerability of vehicles such as the "Snatch" Land Rover still being used by British forces. Over the past five years, more than 30 British soldiers have been killed in the lightly-armoured vehicles in southern Afghanistan.

However, British troops are to be supplied with 600 new armoured vehicles.

The Ministry of Defence and Treasury agreed a £500m deal which should see a variety of vehicles, including the more heavily-armoured Mastiffs and Jackals, delivered to Afghanistan by next spring.

In further efforts to reduce the exposure of forces to roadside bombs, the UK and France have also pushed for members of Nato who have not deployed combat troops to Afghanistan to contribute £30m to supply extra military helicopters and trained crews for the mission - although it is not yet clear when the first will be ready to be sent.

UK Lockdown point of view
This war is not being fought to improve the lives of the Afgan people it is being fought so the Zionists can get to fully construct their oil pipeline and so they can also regain control of the Afgan Opium fields and fund expansion of their world empire, British & American troops should be here at home fighting to free us from the Zionist parasites that have subverted our governments, our troops should be here defending our freedoms and stopping any more of our basic rights being taken away, they should be fighting to defend this nation from its real enemies the Jewish crime network and all the agents who operate on their behalf.

Britain to put more troops in Afghanistan

Independent 19th September 2008

Britain will send more troops to Afghanistan as the strength of the international force in the country is boosted to counter rising violence, the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, said yesterday.

At the same time, the US is to ask its Western allies, especially those who have failed to contribute to the military mission, to provide the bulk of $20 billion (£11bn) needed to more than double the size of the Afghan army from 65,000 to 134,000.

One senior US defence official said: "We feel it is only right that those who have not sent troops should pay towards the cost of the Afghan army. It's not just Nato countries, for example we have Japan, the world's second- biggest economy, who have no troops in Afghanistan. Shouldn't they contribute something?"

The boosting of troop numbers will take place alongside changes in the chain of command which will see the US General David McKiernan put in charge of all American forces in the country, hitherto divided into two separate operations, Mr Gates said.

The Ministry of Defence in London confirmed that several hundred extra troops will be sent to Afghanistan in the next deployment of forces. A spokesman said troop numbers were always being kept under review and were dependant on the situation on the ground.

The US is already committed to initially sending about 8,000 extra troops to Afghanistan. General McKiernan, who had asked for three extra brigades, has now asked for a fourth one to tackle the resurgent Taliban.

Mr Gates said he wanted to see fellow Nato members also play a full part in reinforcing the Western military presence in the country. He stressed that apprehension of a Russian resurgence following the Georgian conflict did not pose a military threat to Western Europe and was not a valid reason for some Nato countries to not send troops to Afghanistan.

The US Defence Secretary said British forces in Afghan-istan were doing an "excellent" job. He added that he did not know how many additional troops Britain may send, but expected to find out in talks with British officials.

An MoD spokesman in London stated that US officials have assured them that Mr Gates' remarks were not an attempt to pre-empt a British announcement, or an attempt to "box-in" the UK on a commitment to increasing troop levels.

Mr Gates also said US and Nato commanders have been asked to review their policy on air strikes, after recent Afghan civilian casualties provoked outrage in the country. The policy of carrying out an investigation before taking any action on "collateral damage" would be reversed, with Western forces publicly apologising and paying compensation before starting an inquiry, he said.

UK Lockdown point of view
We don't need more troops in Afganistan we need more troops here to help us fight the infestation of Zionist parasites that are ruining our economy, poisoning our food and water, and using their media to brainwash our children to become their slaves, our country is not under attack from Afgans its under attack from Zionism and the global Jewish crime network.