Tuesday, June 6, 2017

#LondonBridge: Sadiq Khan Should Be Ashamed

From Katie Hopkins, at London's Daily Mail, "No wonder they didn't want us to know who the London Bridge Butchers were. The more we find out, the more ineffectual the people who are supposed to protect us from the killers look":

I commend Piers Morgan. There's something I never thought I would hear myself say.

I watched him interview Sadiq Khan on GMB this morning and he was 100% more professional than I would ever have been.

I can imagine coming round to find Sadiq lying on the floor with camera three lying across his limp body, and me wild-eyed, legging it down the South Bank.

He appears to show no conception of the horror our capital city is facing, keeps repeating London is the safest city in the world, and refuses to connect the glaringly obvious dots between Islamic Extremism and the attacks on our children.

He said he could not comment about the 23,000 individuals identified as 'subjects of interest' still at large because this is an ongoing investigation.

He would not answer why we did not do more to the lock up the attacker - Khuram Butt - who went on to be the Butcher of London Bridge because the police operation was still live.

It's a mantra we keep hearing from any of the people who are supposed to be keeping us safe. The Met Commissioner said it yesterday. Boris Johnson repeated it this morning.

How convenient.

Well I'm calling them on this.

I'd like to believe there are good operational reasons for taking over two days to tell us who the killers were.

But I can't help suspecting that it's more about dodging difficult questions and managing the flow of news that is bound to make people bloody angry.

Waiting until our initial horror and rage at the original attack dissipates before releasing information that will make us furious all over again.

And giving themselves time to get their stories straight before the sh*t hits the fan.

Similarly, whenever I hear a top cop or a politician start an interview with a paean of praise to the courage of the rank-and-file officers who helped stop Saturday's massacre, I can't help feeling they are being treated as human shields.

Nobody admires our ordinary police officers more than me and the courage of those who faced down the three maniacs in Borough Market – armed sometimes with just a baton – leaves me in awe.

This is not about the brave officers on the ground. Uniformed, on duty or off. Changing into riot gear on the sidewalk behind their vans. Dancing with our little girls to bring some reassurance to our fear. They are warriors. They should be rewarded. One and all.

But equally if the people at the top were doing their jobs properly, the brave bobbies on the street wouldn't need to be quite so much in harm's way. Sadiq Khan, the investigating officers, MI5, Theresa May - I've lost confidence in all of them.

As a twitter user - Sam White commented; 'Jihadis are cleverly evading the authorities by appearing in documentaries about jihadis with the word jihadi in the title'.

We now know the London Bridge, Manchester and Westminster attackers were all known to counter-terrorism agencies.

The mostly recently named of the three attackers on London Bridge, Youssef Zaghba - even told the Italian authorities why he was flying to Turkey in 2016. 'I'm going to be terrorist,' he said. Police were called and he was prevented from flying.

Authorities confirm complete dossier on him would have been forwarded to MI5 in April 2016 after he travelled to the UK.

His London accomplice Khuram Shazad Butt, 27, a British citizen of Pakistani descent, was well known to authorities and reported repeatedly by members of the public, now frustrated nothing was done.

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