Jean Charles de Menezes, RIP
by Glen Litsinger
kosmik@adelphia.net

Special to TLE

A 27-year old Brazilian electrician was shot 5 times, 3 times in the head at point blank range, by British homeland security experts last week. His crime? Wearing a heavy, padded coat in balmy 74-degree London, and running when a swarm of heavily-armed public protectors followed him into a subway station and demanded that he lie down and be shot without making a scene.

Why did he wear that coat? Could be he was as balmy as the weather, certainly reason enough to shoot him (eugenics is making a big comeback these days, isn't it?). Perhaps 74 feels chilly to a Brazilian. Or it could be that the workplace he was headed to that morning cranks up the a/c an inordinate amount. We'll probably never know.

Tony Blair and Jack Straw have, of course, expressed their deepest regrets, but have defended the actions of the intrepid police. The suspect must be executed immediately without detention or trial, and the bullets must be delivered to the head because body shots might set off that the bomb that had to be hidden under that coat, you see. (The British learned this technique from the Sri Lankans, who learned to be terrorists through resisting the, um, British Empire, and to be anti-terrorists in their own turn as oppressors). By acting swiftly and decisively they potentially saved dozens of innocent lives!

Well, pardon me, but that's a load. A suicide bomb belt has a detonator cord that must be pulled, or a button that must be pushed. If the police are at point blank range, they can see the suspects hands. If those hands are outside the coat, they can be pinned. Unless the suspect's hands are inside the coat, no presumption of intent to detonate a bomb should be made. Furthermore, in every instance in memory, a suicide bomber who was discovered simply detonated the bomb immediately, or chickened out and surrendered.

But why, why did Jean Charles run? Well, I do have a theory about that:

BECAUSE HE WAS BEING CHASED BY A BAND OF SCREAMING, PLAINCLOTHES POLICE FUCKUPS WAVING GUNS, THAT'S WHY! AND EVERYONE KNOWS THAT ONLY TERRORISTS, CRIMINALS OR UNIFORMED POLICEMAN CARRY GUNS IN GUN-CONTROLLED LONDON!

The memory of Jean Charles de Menezes will fade quickly from the public mind, just another poor sucker victimized by the madness that calls itself Government in these strange and evil times. As for his killers, they shall not be named (let alone blamed), other than in the citations for bravery and heroism in the line of duty that are being written, a la Waco and Ruby Ridge. Of course, we will undoubtedly see their faces many times in the news, as the authorities release the photos taken by the ubiquitous surveillance cameras that record every movement in London's subway system. The chase and shooting are a matter of public record...

Wait! I haven't seen those pictures, have you?

I heard an interview with a subway passenger who witnessed the slaughter. He described the victim as "terrified—he looked like a cornered fox".

With apologies to the memory of Walt Kelly, creator of Pogo, "We have met the terrorists, and they is us."

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