From cricket-lover who enjoyed a laugh to terror suspect (London bombing)

[Monkie]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1527429,00.html

"Ten days ago Shahzad Tanweer, a 22-year-old British Asian, was playing cricket in the local park with his friends. It was something he loved to do. He was a sporty young man who loved martial arts, drove his dad's Mercedes and had many friends in the Beeston area of Leeds.

"He is sound as a pound," said Azi Mohammed, a close friend. "The idea that he was involved in terrorism or extremism is ridiculous. The idea that he went down to London and exploded a bomb is unbelievable.

Article continues
"I only played cricket in the park with him around 10 days ago. He is not interested in politics."

Thought to have been educated at Lawnswood school in Beeston, and a sports science graduate from Leeds University, Shahzad had a brother and two sisters."

Not quite the picture of a insane islamic terrorist one expects. If these reports are correct and he was a wel-adjusted, wel educated person i think its going to raise alot more questions, and shake our preconceptions of the problem.

[Monkie]

1. either i posted it to early or its really not interesting or relevant

so it gets a kick before dying...

[leftofthedial]

2. police investigative method

review surveillance camera tapes

find arab-looking young male with backpack

name as suspect

???

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. find arab-looking young male with backpack

And the fact that he's gone missing, coincidentally, on the same day as the bombings is... irrelevant?

[daleo]

5. He could have been an innocent victim, for all we know.

We haven't really seen much in the way of evidence yet.

[leftofthedial]

7. not irrelevant

but also not proof that he was a terrorist

[prayin4rain]

6. I want to know more about how they are finding these

"suspects" too. They sure identified the strange suspects quickly.

[Henny Penny]

9. maybe they reviewed tapes and

saw 4 young men with back packs who were clearly together and who then each turned up at the different sites of attack. Now that would be suspicious...

But we don't know until we see or hear the evidence. For all we know, there could be one evil terrorist and 3 innocent Patsies. Or none of the above.

The French interior minister claimed today that the British had arrested part of this group in 2004 and they had been released in order to try and get a bigger fish.

The British deny this claim, but if true it might explain why these suspects were picked up so quickly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4680155.stm

[Monkie]

10. thats pretty huge that the french interior minister said that

and very stupid of him if hes wrong about that.
The police also said they had tips from the public as well as cctv images of these 4,so while that isn't conclusive proof of anything it is a good starting point for them.

[leftofthedial]

11. they apparently are suspicious enough for the police to go public

and to make arrests and inquiries

But we really don't know anything much. Hence the ??? at the end of my post.

[daleo]

3. We have to remember, these are allegations at this point

The media is portraying the case as essentially solved, but we can't really know that unless we see evidence (preferably a trial). Even if the alleged bombers are dead, there must be someone to whom the bombs can be traced. I want to see a proper legal proceeding, for a change.

[leftofthedial]

8. oh, you mean evidence and a "trial"

like we STILL have never had for 9-11?

[daleo]

12. Yes, that old fashioned notion.

Like even the Nazis got, way back when.

[leftofthedial]

14. but that's so reality based

so last millenium

[progressivebydesign]

13. Guy with a backpack.. like what happened to Richard Jewell perhaps?

I have no more info than anyone else on that guy.. but mistakes are made when tensions are high.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

15. class, today's word is "Patsy"--->definition: someone to pin a crime on

benefits of "Patsy"-->people feel safer, law enforcement looks sucessful (even though they failed to prevent a crime)--
MLK,JFK,RFK,and on down the line