The World as I see it.

I will never support Airport “Passenger Profiling” - looking for certain traits in passengers like Country of Origin, Age, Sex, Religion, Race etc all in aid of the war against terrorism - in this country simply and squarely because it reminds me when black people - especially young black men - were profiled [and still are in some cases] just because they fit a “certain” bill. Besides, I have been on the receiving end of police ignorance, xenophobia and racism in the past just because I fit a “certain profile”! I was attacked in Fulham- London in 1997, by some racist football hooligans. I had to run into a kebab shop for help. In the shop, the Turkish owner had to pull out his 13 inch-plus, Rambo-like knife to fend of my attackers while his partner called the police. When the police arrived, they were more interested in my name, date of birth, nationality, national insurance number, address etc trying to establish if I were an illegal immigrant or whether I had a criminal record while my attackers got away. In the end, with all my details taken down they asked a few questions about my attackers and told me they would do what they could and left. From that day on, I developed this hatred for the police for profiling me as a criminal and not a victim. I went on to have more almost-identical experiences with the police because of my profile [male, black and at the time - young] that reinforced my hatred for the police.  If you are black and especially male, you most likely have stories of your own. If not - lucky you. You must have been around when “Stephen Lawrence” was murdered in cold blood and the police due to “profiling” didn’t do what they were supposed to do. They assumed he was just another drug dealer that got was coming to him and just like that a young man was denied a life just because of his profile. So it comes as no surprise to you when today the pendulum has swung and Asians are now the flavour of the month in terms of terrorist suspects that I am just as against profiling now as I was when I was a member of the group considered to be the main suspects.

Anyway, apparently -the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 …http://www.house.gov/transportation/aviation/02-27-02/02-27-02memo.html… is under review after it was agreed it needs an upgrade.  It needs an upgrade because it focuses on screening passenger luggage and clothing for explosives and not passengers themselves considering the 9/11 attacks - the biggest attack of its kind on American soil - was done with little or no explosives.

This has lead to the government discussing with airport operators plans to introduce some sort of Passenger Profiling to try to determine in advance which passengers pose the greatest security risk. This is all good in principle but considering the authorities well known track record to date on such issues [the De menezes murder, the forest gate terror raids, etc.], I find statements like this worrying…

       “The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background“

Emphasis on “ethnic or religious background”.  Asians, Arabs and Muslims in general - watch out. Besides all the other criteria are dodgy under closer examination. Consider the scenario - I am Muslim, 25, Chemistry Graduate, Male Bearded and Pakistani. I have been to Pakistan a few times but now I want to visit the United States. If profiling ever goes ahead, can you begin to imagine what this imaginary person I have described will have to put up with? Also more worrying is the person’s travel pattern. Pakistan and Palestine especially, will gradually become “no-go” countries if you don’t want trouble when flying.

When Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent - Ali Dizaei - coined the new crime “Travelling While Asian” following the extra screening being discussed that will apply to “particular individuals”, most non-Muslims and non- Asians failed to see the point this concerned individual was making http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5265800.stm and it even led to verypublic rejections like this one…

“Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent Simon Humphrey told the Daily Mail that

it was “wholly unacceptable” to depict Muslims as victims.”

What a stupid comment from an equally stupid man. Just a few days later on Wednesday 16/08/2006, two Asian university students were kicked off a plane just because fellow passengers profiled them to be terrorists.  It is always people that will never experience the hell and horrors of a situation that are first to accuse those at the receiving end of over-reaction. We saw it during the civil rights movements, we saw it during apartheid and we are seeing it again. I hope that moron Simon Humphrey and all his supporters feel guilty now. They will never be singled out, neither will their sons, daughters or anybody they care for be singled out so their ignorance will flow like the Atlantic. Over-reaction to stimulus in these times of high tension and unease due to terrorism is very understandable but even at that, outright pigeon-holing, blind-blanketing and stereo-typing under the guises caution or fear is nothing but outright racism. These men went through normal security checks and none of the non-Asian passengers didn’t even stop to think about that. They became suspicious when they heard them speaking Urdu, which they mistook for Arabic - stupid people, stupid assumptions! One of the women that was on the plane that day on an interview on telly defended her actions. She said some of the children on the plane became scared because they looked like picture of terrorist they had seen on telly. Well, well, well, I thought she was going to say something that might sway me a bit but it all goes to show how ignorant and stupid most racist people are anyway. Since when did sensible people base their logic on children’s actions or reactions? Children believe in Father Christmas for crying out loud! Kids can react to anything. Adults teach children and not the other way round.

See link…http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/21/arab_speakers_grounded/

In the climate we inhabit today, their will always be terrorism. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana quite rightfully said and I agree that as long as there is Imperialism, there will be Resistance. Terrorism is something we have to learn to live with as long as the so-called war against it [Terror] is fought in the manner and fashion it is today. I advise my critics to read some literature by John Pilger, Noam Chomsky or George Soros, to see a different view from their usual BBC and Sky. Of course mistakes will be made from time to time. I will only accept “acceptable” mistakes. What those two young Asian men went through was criminal. No matter what I think of a person, if he is been through reasonable checks then let him be. My fear after that is my fear and quite honestly my problem. What those racist were allowed to get away with on that day is a sign of how low our supposedly civilized society has sunk.

If profiling ever becomes law, then Asians have had it. It will be a passport to discriminate against Asian, Moslems and Arabs. Anybody that fails to see this point fails to do so because they are simply not Asian, Moslem or just have not experience first hand injustice at the hands of the authorities as a result of their colour creed, race or religion.

On the 22^nd of July 2005, most of us heard of the police shooting of the unfortunate Brazilian - Jean Charles De Menezes.  He was shot following the metropolitan police’s adoption of a “shoot-to-kill” policy following the 7/7 and 21/7 terrorist bombings in London. I remember exactly that faithful day, I was watching the news as it was coming through. My initial reaction in these post-September 11, propaganda times is to keep an open mind. Was he a terrorist? Under what conditions was he shot? If a terrorist, based on what evidence? These were some questions that were racing through my mind as I was digesting the news. Those questions came to me because I have on numerous occasions been on the receiving end of being wrongly accused or suspected by the police. I know how easily it can happen if you fit the bill and how annoying, disrupting, embarrassing it can be. Equally obvious to me is how powerless those accused almost always turn out to be. Funny how my personal experiences gave me a preview of what took up to a year to unfold to everybody else. I had a feeling ALL the police involved would be let off the hook. Well surprise, surprise.

A short while after the shooting, the police commissioner - Sir Ian Blair - gave an official statement. In his statement he claimed that De Menezes was challenged by the police and refused to obey - according to the report he was told to stop but refused and kept running. That he was chased all the way to Stockwell tube station where he jumped over the ticket barriers and inside the tube he was shot seven times in the head. They also claimed his clothing was suspicious suggesting that it could have concealed an explosive device.

It later transpired that the official statement was a pack of untruths. Basically a pack of lies.  The metropolitan police tried to spin its way out of trouble - just like New Labour. A catalogue of errors, mistakes and incompetence lead to De Menezes’ unfortunate death in a manner most horrid. I must say I believe there was no deliberate intent to kill him particularly, just silly mistakes [mistaking him for a terrorist] with fatal consequences in this case. A case of which Sir Ian Blair should have been sacked for - at least.

A later report by the IPCC [Independent Police Complaints Commission] in January this year set the crocked record straight. Apparently, Jean Charles De Menezes lived next door to Hussein Osman - one of those involved in the 21/7 failed London bombings. The undercover police watching the address at the time De Menezes was leaving his house went to relieve himself. He could not dismiss De Menezes as not being Hussein Osman because he was not there. Why there was nobody else there on the watch defeats me. Other officers followed De menezes to the tube station. They just knew he came out of the block of flats they were watching. He did not come out of the address they were watching. They  followed him calmly all the way to the tube. At the tube station where they could have rung in to be double sure - their radios were not working because they were, well - underground. Inside the tube as he was sitting calmly, they walked up to him and shot him seven times in the head. At no time did they try to find out his true identity. There was no struggle, there was no resistance. De Menezes didn’t even know he was followed up till the time he was shot.

With all these disgraceful facts established, on Monday 17^th July 2006, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute any individual over De Menezes’ death. That is after Ian Blair accused the dead man of resisting arrest. After all those cock ups by the police watching the address next door to him. After the BBC unnecessarily mentioned and still do, that he was an illegal immigrant. [Does it matter?] After the BBC’s shameful spin on the story by going all the way to Gonzaga - Brazil, where De Menezes comes from to claim that  shooting and killing there is a daily occurrence. Once again I ask, was that relevant.

After what happened and the decision reached by the CPS after much deliberation, all I can say is that they just added an insult to an already painful injury.

I saw a picture of the brothers in question and it all clicked. Since the first day the news broke http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5040022.stm on the 2^nd of June 2006, of the “Forest Gate” anti-terrorist raid, I have had an eye on the story but have been too lazy to read or investigate the full story. I spent last night reading the whole thing and God - I am really concerned. When it comes to incidents like these, I never believe the hype. I tend to follow the news but keep an open mind. I was totally fooled when the same police force shot that unlucky Brazilian [Menezes] at Stockwell tube station following similar “specific intelligence” after the 21/7 London bombings. In the wake of the shooting, instead of the Police doing the honourable thing and admit a cock-up of the first order, they tried to label the innocent victim as an illegal immigrant who resisted arrest. It later came out that the police, followed him on to the tube and shot him in cold blood! Is it surprising I had my doubts when these two brothers were arrested?

After reading the above, I did not know what to think. 250 officers? They must have been following a very hot lead. As it was happening I was among those who wanted to know more. Why those two brothers in particular, what exactly do they mean by “Specific Intelligence”?

We all know now that that “Specific Intelligence” was definitely not “Reliable”. What they had was nothing but rumours. It does, does it not, put into question the quality of “Intelligence” in this country.

Crap intelligence.

“Security sources have described the Forest Gate raid as “potentially significant” and

said it followed months of surveillance.

Emphasis on “Potentially Significant“. Are you not worried? After months of surveillance, they manage to cock-up on that scale? Then, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5074164.stm we gather…

Without Charge? Read how the police burst into these poor people’s home and terrorised them in the name of anti-terrorism. I feel this way simply and squarely because I am black and I know the score. When I was living in Swindon, I had a horrible time. In my old age now, I do not have anything against the police but having gone through that stage of being stopped and quizzed each time you were out and about gives you a complex. At the time, I hated the police with a passion. They stopped me then simply because I fit the type - young, black and male and damn right I was up to no good. For these two brothers, the same rule applies. They are Asian, young and with Osama-styled beards. Of course they are terrorists.