Terror in London
A fellow whose name is being kept from the media attacked in London yesterday, killing three people and injuring scores, including Kurt Cochran, an American from Utah, as reported by The Guardian. Cochran’s widow is still in the hospital being treated for her injuries. The terrorist was killed by police – a good guy with a gun – after the criminal mowed down several people with his car and then went on a stabbing spree with knife.
Sorry, no gun was needed.
CNN reports that police have arrested eight others in connection with terrorism plots.
Prime Minister Theresa May revealed the perpetrator was British born and once linked to violent extremism, in a statement to Parliament a day after it was locked down when the assailant breached its perimeter.
May said the attacker — whose rampage claimed three lives and injured 40 — had been investigated by security services but was regarded as a “peripheral figure.” Authorities did not know he was about to mount an assault, she said.
ISIS has taken credit for the actions of this fellow, according to the UK’s Mirror.
The Amaq News Agency, seen as the terror group’s official press service, report the attacker was “a soldier of Islamic State”.
The terror group does not provide the name of the attacker who killed three people before he was shot dead by police.
The Amaq statement said: “The perpetrator of the attacks yesterday in front of the British parliament in London is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition.”
Mick sends a link to BBC which reports on the heroic actions of Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood while he worked to save the life of the police officer stabbed by the terrorist;
Mr Ellwood, a Conservative MP and former Army officer, performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on PC Palmer in New Palace Yard, Westminster.
Four people, including the police officer and the attacker, died.
So many lessons here – it’s what happens when we don’t have the will to fight terrorists “over there”, and the government can’t protect us from the known terrorists, so let us arm ourselves.
UPDATE: The UK’s Sun names the killer;
THE British-born attacker behind the deadly attack on Westminster has been named by police as Khalid Masood,
Masood, 52, who was shot dead by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon’s security guard, had once been investigated by MI5 over violent extremism.
Category: Terror War
Religion of Peace celebrating its wonderful peacefulness…///
It is amazing to me, if you have a poisonous snake slithering around your yard, you KILL IT, before it strikes you, your family or your friends…what the hell is so hard to understand about that? Open season on terrorists and set a bounty, all killed terrorists get drenched in pigs blood..problem solved!!
PM May used THAT word (‘terrorist’) in her press appearance. It seems she’s not worried about stomping on someone’s foot. Good on her!
If only Police Constable Keith Palmer had had the necessary tools to meet a violent attacker with deadly force. The idea of unarmed police officers is stupid as hell.
Still, Palmer ran towards the sound of chaos without a weapon. No denying his dedication or his balls. God rest him and be with his family.
MP Ellwood, late of the now-disbanded Royal
Green Jackets, stepped up as well. Nice to see a politician doing something besides hiding behind a wall of armed bodyguards when shit gets real.
Clearly these people just got in the way of the always-peaceful Religion of Peace. Again.
The London police do carry weapons when they are on duty. They were armed when I was last in London in 1979 because of IRA activity.
PH: I believe that SOME police are armed but not all are.
Apparently there has been much gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes across the pond about whether ALL police should be armed, as if arming all police would somehow cause Britain to lose her innocence or specialness or something (even though every other country in the world – including former commonwealth countries like Canada, Australia, etc, pretty much, have armed virtually all of their police.)
They may have increased the ratio of armed to unarmed police but my understanding is that among “beat” cops, the ratio is still under 50% armed.
An acquaintance, who is a local there, is quite proud that their law enforcement folks follow Peel’s Principles, and thus need not rely on The Gun to enforce The Law, because they enforce the law with the consent of the people.
In a way, it makes sense. In places where folks support both the law and law enforcement, the policeman seldom has to resort to deadly force.
The equivalent here is the small-town cop who retires at thirty+ and turns in his gun, only to discover that it is rusted solid and/or stuck in the holster.
Sadly, Britain is changing. Many of the more recent arrivals (and a distressing number of natives) do not “give consent”, quite the contrary. The violent crime rate there is soaring, and the once untouchable Constable is now increasingly a target for mayhem, from all sort of folks with nothing but contempt for things British and/or “authority”.
Civilization is high-maintenance, and it is by no means our natural state.
I’ve been told that, back in the day, a British cop who encountered an uncooperative individual could simply stomp his ass until he stopped being uncooperative. Combine that option with a culturally-ingrained respect for the police, and they did okay.
Nowadays they apparently no longer have the whoopass option, and British culture is being overrun with others that don’t traditionally respect the laws of their hosts and refuse to assimilate.
I think the ass-whooping is still an option, at least according to this article: http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2353-i-was-cop-in-country-with-no-guns-6-startling-truths.html
“consent of the people”? my ass, muslims don’t respect the Brits laws..how far up their ass do they have their heads?
Well, then it fluctuates with the times, if that’s the case.
All London Police Constables are not armed with firearms. Only firearm designated officers are armed. British police have to be specially trained and designated as such before they can carry firearms. This is in part because most of the British populace have no experience with firearms unless they have served in the military. The average Brit wouldn’t know how to load the weapon, let alone shoot it effectively.
The average American is also clueless. All police here have to go through special training before they can carry a weapon as well.
The quality and frequency of which varies wildly, with a lot of regular citizens being far more qualified than a lot of cops.
As an ex cop, I will disagree with that statement…ALL cops are trained sufficiently, whether they have the foresight to “practice” what they have learned is a different story! the same can be said about civilians imho
Fair enough.
But I have encountered several “highly-trained professionals” who made me reflect that the State of California insists that I must disarm in the name of “public safety,” even though I’m a responsible citizen with no history of crime, violence, or mental instability, and have never even had a negligent discharge…but they’ll GIVE that asshole a gun!
Apparently not all as the gate guard that was murdered was not armed. The British news that I listened to made a great point in emphasizing “handgun or armed police” so I’m thinking there are quite a few not armed. Why in this day with muzzys running around like that I cant’ begin to guess
‘Nice to see a politician doing something besides hiding behind a wall of armed bodyguards when shit gets real.’
And then also not proceeding to subsequently criticize and second-guess the method in which those armed bodyguards (i.e. police officers) decisively eliminated the Islamic terrorist threat.
Very nice to see indeed.
If only our own politicians would follow MP Ellwood’s example in similar circumstances. (Some undoubtedly would, but the vast majority wouldn’t.)
So this makes him the SECOND man to ever enter Parliament with honest intentions?
https://www.lawfareblog.com/only-man-ever-enter-parliament-honest-intentions
As stated above – a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy.
But something we need to acknowledge – in a society where we live by the principle “innocent until proven guilty”, even when an LEO is certain that an actor is about to commit a crime, until he (or she) actually does something illegal he/she cannot be arrested.
We do not arrest people for what they might do – even when we have a high level of confidence that they are doing to do something evil. Our enemies can use this against us, unfortunately.
So – we are back to an armed citizenry being our best front-line-defense against evil.
While I agree totally with your last statement, we certainly can arrest people for what they may do. Hence all of those arrests for conspiracy to rob, to murder, to procure firearms for illegal purposes, to cross state lines to commit crimes, and on and on.
True, UpNorth, but proving a conspiracy to commit a crime is no simple task.
Saying, for instance, that Jane Fonda needs to be horsewhipped, and having others agree that she ought to be horsewhipped, is not enough to prove that any of us actually plan to horsewhip her.
Attending a meeting of folks who believe she needs horsewhipped is not enough to prove that we are planning to horsewhip her.
Change that to “kill infidels” and you get my drift.
At common law, conspiracy = an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime + one overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. The overt act need not be criminal in and of itself.
Unless you have a wiretap or someone overhears a conversation, proving a conspiracy usually requires the cooperation of one of the conspirators.
Sad.
My condolences to the families of the victims.
UPDATE: The UK’s Sun names the killer;
Another member of the Reformed Church of the Lithuanian Amish…
Glad to know that ISIS claimed him as one of their own before this announcement was made. 🙂
Khalid Masood, that sounds like the name of a Jehovah’s Witness gone rogue.
Khalid Masood.
‘Nuff said.
Sounds like he could be a ‘Slamonazi. Ethnically, anyway. I,ll bet money he is a devout follower of that “religion of peace.” The one where its followers will let us have peace once they have made the planet’s population submit to them, or they have killed all of us who won’t submit.
SJS (Sudden Jihad Syndrome) strikes again, WHEN WILL THYE FIND A CURE?!?!
What’s that? You say SJS is brought on by high levels of stress and fatigue? And that the stress and fatigue can be alleviated with a dirtnap?
Then why aren’t we implementing the cure?!?
HVLI or High Velocity Lead Injection has been a proven cure for SJS, it comes in 9mm, .45 ACP, 5.56MM, 7.62 MM,…
I did see some videos in which they blew themselves up before reaching a target. Is that bad timing or poor bomb construction? Inquiring minds want to know.
And yet, some here still seem to believe that it’s “discriminatory” to ban immigration from nations which refuse to cooperate with the US regarding international terrorism.
Yes, I know that this tool was born in the UK. That’s true – and is also irrelevant. That fact does not obligate this country to continue to admit those from areas and/or nations which refuse to cooperate with the US in countering terrorism.
The Constitution is not, and never has been, a suicide pact. No “right” is absolute; all are subject to limitation when their exercise substantially affects the rights of others or public safety.
Don’t believe that? Then just try to perform a “religious human sacrifice” or unilateral compromise of classified information w/o authority – the pass given to Hillary and her cronies notwithstanding. Hillary and her cronies involved in that abuse of trust all deserve to be doing felony time.
10-4, Hondo. The United States should take a lesson from Australia on border control. NO one has a right to come here, unless invited or given permission. In my view, our country is like our home – our castle.
Well said, Hondo. No would-be immigrant has a ‘right’ to come to the United States.
Here is some additional ‘supporting fire’ to reinforce your comments above:
‘Farage: Anti-Travel Ban Protesters Need to Reflect on London Terror Attack’
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/03/22/london-terror-attacks-mean-trump-travel-ban-protesters-need-think-says-nigel-farage
‘Brexit leader Nigel Farage reacted to Wednesday’s terror attack in London, saying it should highlight the importance of properly vetting immigrants and refugees.
“We’ve made some terrible mistakes in this country,” Farage said, referring to Great Britain.
He said the multiculturalism first championed by former Prime Minister Tony Blair led to divided communities.
Farage said Americans watching the events on Westminster Bridge should start realizing that when President Trump enacts stricter vetting measures, he is doing it to protect the homeland and not to be divisive.
“Protesters… need to have a long, hard think about what they are doing,” he said, calling lax immigration policies an “open door inviting terrorism.”
He said such measures as ‘extreme vetting’ are common-sense, and added that Britons are hoping to look for stronger guidance from their leaders.’
(This was intended to be a reply to Hondo’s comment above at 12:40PM)
Protesters… need to have a long, hard think about what they are doing – No, they need to learn to T-H-I-N-K, period.
It is something they do not do. They do not know how to think. They only know how to react because that is what they’ve been taught to do since they were toddlers.
Khalid Masood…that’s a pure-bred Amish surname if I ever heard one…
They’re always “on the periphery” until they’ve breached your perimeter.
I think it’s time for all Police in the UK to arm up, not just the “Specialist Firearms Command”. Response times can be costly.
More needless deaths.
More sacrifices for the alter of political correctness.
Goatfucker.