The wild West End

The shooting of the Brazilian immigrant, John Charles Menenzes, in
Stockwell underground station by British security forces was an
abysmal failure, but not for the usual reason given, that he was
innocent. But, rather, it was a failure because he was able to penetrate
the underground station and actually get on board a train.
If the police suspected that he was carrying a bomb belt under his coat,
worn on a hot day, they should have challenged him before he entered the
station, and if there was any doubt about his reaction, such as running
away,
they should have shot him there and then. He may have run because he had an
out-dated visa and was in the UK illegally, but that was not the concern of
the officers. Their responsibility was to ensure that he could not explode
himself in the station or on the train amongst many passengers. Therefore
to allow him into the station and to actually board a train was an abysmal
failure of security.
It has been averred that the British security police have a "shoot to kill"
policy, which they may have adopted from the Israelis. In fact Israeli
security forces have a "shoot to stop" policy when it comes to potential
terrorist bombers, and one hopes that they would not have made such an
elementary mistake.
Now the Metropolitan Police force have made up for their mistake by
capturing three of the failed bombers of the July 21 attacks around London.
One was captured in Birmingham, two today in raids in and around Notting
Hill and the fourth one is reported to have been captured in Rome. This
points out the difference, as noted by some commentators, between these
so-called suicide bombers and those we are used to dealing with in Israel.
The London Islamic bombers are relatively amateurish, their bombs were home
made, the second batch did not go off, and after finding themselves alive
the bombers apparently had no escape plan, they simply ran. Notably they
did not try to commit suicide or take members of the public hostage or
anything else.
Now the police have the opportunity to find out if the bombs were made in
the same batch by the same bomb maker, if the cells knew each other and
whether or not they can identify any other cells from these men and their
activities. That is the crucial thing, since the first four bombers are
dead, can the second set who are alive and in custody provide enough
material to allow the authorities to stop this terrorist campaign now.