Thursday, November 8, 2007

Boris talks rowlocks on de Menezes

Boris Johnson argues in the Telegraph that "too much" concern for health and safety "did for" Jean Charles de Menezes.

Johnson argues that, instead of waiting for the firearms officers, the unarmed police surveillance team should have approached de Menezes:

...so why in the name of all that's holy did the officers not just tap him on the shoulder - especially as doubts grew about this identification - and ask him quickly to clear the matter up?

It may have had something to do with de Menezes being (wrongly) suspected of being a suicide bomber.

Mr Johnson seems to be living in a sort of 1920s Billy Bunter world where chaps just walked up to other chaps and said "Cripes old thing, are you one of the white hats or one of the black hats?"

If the "suspect" had been a suicide bomber, he could well have "pulled the pin" on his bomb as soon as he was approached, killing both himself and the enquiring police officer.

So, Mr Johnson's conclusion is, at best, somewhat naively derived with the benefit of hindsight.

At worse, it is, technically, complete rowlocks.

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