Just looking for a new job — dynamite management skills
How civilized of them! Don’t want to hurt the feelings of those involved in beheadings.
Al Qaeda fanatics working in police (but they don’t dare sack them)
Up to eight police officers and civilian staff are suspected of links to extremist groups including Al Qaeda.
Some are even believed to have attended terror training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan.
Their names feature on a secret list of alleged radicals said to be working in the Metropolitan and other forces.
The dossier was drawn up with the help of MI5 amid fears that individuals linked to Islamic extremism are taking advantage of police attempts to increase the proportion of ethnic staff.
Astonishingly, many of the alleged jihadists have not been sacked because – it is claimed – police do not have the “legal power” to dismiss them.
Classified intelligence reports raising concerns about police staff’s background cannot be used to justify their dismissal, sources said.
Instead, the staff who are under suspicion are unofficially barred from working in sensitive posts and are closely monitored. Political correctness is blamed for the decision not to sack them.
It is widely feared that “long-term” Al Qaeda sleepers are trying to infiltrate other public sector organisations in the UK.
It’s unfortunate every inch of the country is on video surveillance to watch law abiding citizens. Watching Al Qaeda members is probably illegal — it would upset them, you know — so expect to get sued.
What a F**up country.
The UK is a country of laws. Like the US, many of those laws were changed to reflect the liberal mood of the the countries over the last decades, and to protect individual freedoms. It’s up to Parliament to change the laws to reflect the current political realities. Also remember there is a significant Muslim minority in the UK.
Seems to me the operative word is “suspected”. I doubt if the Brits have elevated their standards beyond the yobbos running homeland insecurity in the U.S.. So far, the arrests they’ve made of terrorist plotters have resulted in a majority of cases being thrown out of court.
So, are job categories where the “War on Terror” touches a fraction of an individual’s duties exempt from accepted standards of malfeasance and proof of such? Does mere accusation of being a sympathizer justify firing someone? Because I think we all know that’s all it takes to get on many of these “lists”.
This isn’t so much a liberal vs. conservative issue – unless we’re to accept that conservatives automatically accept striking down nonconformists.
I’d usually leave it unsaid that if proof of conspiracy is forthcoming, of course, these folks should be removed. But, the systematically threatened require that sort of reassurance.
These people were fingered by MI5, not by some $8/hr dimwit rent-a-cops. That should be enough to warrant full investigations and if confirmed, they should be arrested for treason and espionage – and, obviously, stripped of their jobs and held incommunicado.
Thanks for repeating my last paragraph. Which is why I put it there.
how does that old saying go? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? All the better to keep an eye on them, what’s the worry?
This reminds me so much of the Communist scares of 50 years ago. Mere suspicion was usually enough to be fired for many people. Others found their careers stalled. Security clearances revoked. Just because there was some an accusation.
I say good for the police in Britain to need proof instead of mere allegation. That might satisfy some ignorant officer in Gitmo, but very few Judges would be happy with it. I am quite sure the police have investigated and don’t have more than an allegation.
Fishbreath, MI5? Aren’t they one of the agencies the Right Wing Nut Evangelical Conservative Republican Radiohead Apologists like to trot out as agreeing with the assessment that Iraq had WMDs? Well, in case you didn’t know, James Bond was a fictional character.
So if it’s in Britain, extraconstitutional measures are OK. But if it’s in America, it’s only OK if it’s done by your political party.
9 – To paraphrase The Onion: Wait, I’m confused. What’s the difference between taking “extraconstitutional measures” and shitting all over the constitution?
Leave it to Mr Fusion to find a way to include Right Wing Nut Evangelical Conservative Republican Radiohead Apologists (thats a mouthfull) into a post about MI5 and England. Give it a rest why don’t you. Despite what you left wing, nut job, ultra-liberal, Democratic Douches think, all the world ills are not a result of the right. And as we are seeing here, left wing political correctness is the cause.
Goddamn right, too much of the time! PC is waiting in the wings to destroy Western Civ if Fundie Islam doesn’t do the job first.
Oh, and Fused-Brain? They’ve fucked up at times, just like a lot of people – including you.
But if MI-5 didn’t exist, or the frigging CIA, you’d be talking out of your knee-jerk liberal ass in German or Russian instead of English.
#14, Fishbreath
But if MI-5 didn’t exist, or the frigging CIA, you’d be talking out of your knee-jerk liberal ass in German or Russian instead of English.
Whew !!! I was so afraid that it might have been Texan instead of English.
Not knowing whether the suspects ate guilty or innocent creates the following scenarios IMO…
Fire them? ..
If they were fired and are innocent, it might make them reconsider their alternatives — not good in this political, radical climate. If they were fired and are guilty, they would be harder to track and they might fast-forward their game plan since they have been outed and have nothing to gain by waiting.–not good.
Not Fire them?…
They have already been tipped off as to maybe being under suspicion… so if guilty, they would naturally be very nervous but not want to lose their advantage if possible. Hopefully that nervousness would cause them to make mistakes. — good.
If they are innocent, they might find it very uncomfortable working under conditions where their their loyalty and trust is in question. They would tend to protest (i would) to ‘shit or get off the pot’ and I make available any information requested to eliminate any doubt. — eliminating suspects is good, putting someone through that is bad but necessary as in any crime investigation.
My vote then is to continue the investigation and leave everyone as is until concrete proof surfaces.
#11, Pedro
I hope you don’t need to prove your neighbor wants to kill you when you have suspicions he wants to.
Call the police and tell them that. Unless you have some proof, they will laugh at you. Go ahead and shoot them first. That won’t work as a defense although it might get you certified as mentally incompetent.
#12, gq,
And as we are seeing here, left wing political correctness is the cause.
Uummm, how is “ left wing political correctness” the cause? As is often pointed out, the American justice system has its roots in the British system. In both systems you need more than suspicion to punish someone, you need proof. It is typical of the Right Wing Nut Neo-con Evangelical Conservative Republican Radiohead shut in audience to come with blaming the “left” when justice prevails. It is just not the proper way to convict someone.
…Democratic Douches … . Now that was quite witty. But at least Democrats douche. When needed.
#13, Fishbreath
PC is waiting in the wings to destroy Western Civ if Fundie Islam doesn’t do the job first.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling. RUN EVERYBODY The sky is falling. The effen blacks, towelheads, and wahoos are taking over. Our life and culture will never be the same. The mohammedians are gonna turn the Texas branch of the Billy Bob Bible Baptist Church of the Christ Chosen Colicky Conumdrum College into one of those heathan temples !!!
Can you imagine??? No more pulling some stupid drunk neeggar behind a pick-up truck? No more white sheet nights? Taking that effen loser Confederate Flag sticker off our trucks? Sheeet, we won’t be able to beat our own wives no more. Our own wives, not just some little half breed trailer tramp. And speaking of trailers, where we gonna watch American Idol or the Fox Spews station?
I’d be interested in figuring out exactly what imaginary friend you’re addressing all that bilge to.
Personally, I’m not a Texan, and I make sure to correct people who make that insulting assumption. I was born in that evil bastion of right-wing redneck backwoods ignorance and racist violence known as Washington, Federal District of Columbia. No pointy-headed liberals there, no black, brown, yellow, red or other color of people other than white – no furriners who talk funny languages – no liberal “schools” or institutions. Nossir. Only about the most liberal city east of San Francisco.
Idiot.
#18, I assume your post is directed to me. If it isn’t, please ignore the following.
I’d be interested in figuring out exactly what imaginary friend you’re addressing all that bilge to.
The same person who wrote
Goddamn right, too much of the time! PC is waiting in the wings to destroy Western Civ if Fundie Islam doesn’t do the job first.
Comment by Lauren the Ghoti — 7/7/2007 @ 10:21 am
He lives in Dallas either by choice or design.
I’ve not spent 24 hours within a 100-mile radius of Dallas in my life. I suppose your imaginary friend watches too many old Larry Hagman TV series…
Where do you get this imbecilic idea that a liberal can’t be opposed to Political Correctness??? I’ve tried before to explain to you the difference between small-L ‘liberals’ and capital-L ‘Liberals’. Knee-jerk ideologically-bound brainwashing victims such as yourself belong to the latter group. Progressive, humanist realists, such as myself, who understand that neither side has a monopoly on truth or lies, they belong to the former. Recognizing and accepting facts, from whichever side of the aisle they may come, is the mark of the truly open-minded person, which is to say, ‘liberal.’ Followers of the Left’s ‘party line’ are, by definition, not open-minded, and that means you and your kind are certainly not real liberals, just leftist ideologues, fundamentally no different from your counterparts on the right.
When you overcome your partisan brainwashing, then you’ll have the right to call yourself ‘liberal.’ Until then, you’re just a dupe and a stooge for the neo-Marxists.
Pfffft.
I’m finally starting to realize – you really don’t know what PC is, do you? You’ve just been parroting the phrase, blissfully ignorant of what it signifies, while you let it take over your mind. My bet is, you’ve been taken over by a Brain Slug.
About small-L and capital-L – you really don’t have a clue, do you? Political parties?? WTF??
A liberal is a open-minded person; a Liberal is a smug, self-righteous, hypocritical asshole leftist ideologue. I don’t know how much simpler I can make it… there is a limit as to just how far I can dumb things down in order to make them comprehensible to your simplistic mentality.
Forgive me that I assumed you understood the difference in the English language between a proper noun and common noun. (L)iberal is a proper noun while (l)iberal is a common noun. While you may personally attach whatever meaning you would like to it, that just don’t make it so.
Lauren, take a pill and go to bed. I don’t need another of your ill-informed lectures on the finer inner workings of your screwed up mind.