There was a shooting in a London Subway Station on the 22d July last year. A 27 year old Brazilian man, by the name of Jean Charles de Menenzes was shot seven times in the head, as he wrestled with Police who mistook him for a terrorist. Mr. de Menenzes ran from the officers when they challenged him, as he was bording the Tube to go home. He had a rucksack on his shoulder, which, in the light of the July 7th bombings, was taken to be a bomb. He ran when told to stop so that knapsack could be inspected, and in turn, was shot.
Today, two firearms officers have been returned to full operational duty, and Scotland Yard has decided prosecutions were not in order.
Now this has understandably upset the relatives of Mr. de Menenzes, but given the climate, the circumstances, and the paranoia at the time, it would seem no other decision could be made.
This is what terrorism has done to us. It has made Police Officers unsure. It has made the public at large suspicious and afraid.
It has done exactly what the terrorists set out to do.
One must deplore the death of Mr. de Menenzes, but in truth, the blame must be placed on those who began all this furore in New York, on 9-11.
We cannot blame our own law enforcement officials for trying to protect us, and the death of innocents is exactly the aim of Hammas, al Q'aeda, Taliban and Hezbollah.
We can only mourn.