Shoot To Kill To Protect

Flying into London on the weekend in a half-empty plane (if the first terrorist attacks didn’t deter tourists from England, the second attempt must have, for I can’t remember the last time in summer that empty rows of a 747 beckoned sleepy fliers), the news that dominates on arrival is the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by the British police. The papers all have a photo of the young man splashed across their front pages, and although the second suicide attack on the London transport system was narrowly averted due to the seeming incompetence of the explosive-packers, the British are wondering if the now obvious “shoot-to-kill” policy of their police forces is something they are comfortable living with. The Channel 4 News on Sunday (and other media) described the policy as “shoot to kill to protect” without irony, and the police have warned that more innocents may die at the hands of their protectors before the war on terror is declared won.

While we in New York are accustomed to the occasional trigger-happy cop shooting an innocent man, in England, where to this day a large majority of the police force are still unarmed, the public are rightly shocked to hear of a young Brazilian man being chased by undercover officers onto a subway train and shot in the head at close range. Five times. Brazilian confused for Asian or Muslim; a young man walking out of a block of flats occupied by suspected terrorists confused for terrorist, and refusing to stop when asked (by a group of plain-clothes armed men) confused for intent to slaughter. The authorities have expressed deep regret but it has been expressly stated that the “shoot to kill” policy will continue. More mistakes are thus likely to occur. London is not Tel Aviv, not even close, and yet Israeli anti-terror tactics have been adopted by the Metropolitan Police. "Collateral damage" in the war on terrorism, the war without end, continues to rise, and one wonders if the terrorists haven't already accomplished some of their goals.