London Terrorist Attack

[BritishArmyReserveCadets]

• Police called to 'frenzied machete attack' in Woolwich, south-east London, in which one man died
  
• Incident now being treated by the government as a suspected terrorist attack, says the BBC's Nick Robinson
  
• Local MP Nick Raynsford says the man who died was a soldier from Woolwich Barracks
  
• Reports suggest a man was attacked in the street by two individuals who were later shot by officers
  
• Home Secretary Theresa May calls a meeting of Cobra, the government's emergency response committee, describing the attack as "sickening and barbaric"
  

• Attacker claimed to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" before the attack
  
• In footage broadcast by ITV, the alleged attacker says: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you."
  He adds: "I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same.
  "You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don't care about you."
  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22630304

Whats your guys opinion/view on this?

[Handsup!]

Wasn't it also reported his head was severed?

Anyhow, it must be taken pretty seriously if Cobra is being alerted, i read in a book it's the government's most important individuals. It's sick how this man was presumably randomly attacked by people. Mind you, it's probably some small time terrorists who thought they'd take a shot, IMO, however it is pretty sad none-the-less.

I saw the yellow sticker vehicles on scene and Trojan taking down the suspects, supposedly they shot them in the kneecaps. God, that's one of the horrible-st pains you can feel!

[met police999]

Just another nutjob thinking hes fighting for the jihad or something

[BritishArmyReserveCadets]

Video of the 'Terrorist' at the scene

Viewer Discretion is Advised, contains images of the scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EROXP8JDG9M

[met police999]

Did he just grab a cleaver and hack fowk to death or what?...

[goog]

They sure are relaxing their prerequisites for the phrase "terrorist attack",seems more like delusional nut job's that should be called killers not terrorists.In the near future the media will portray a man who farts in public,as long as he says "all have a snackbar"as a terrorist.

[met police999]

It's because the victim was in the army and the recent plots involved attacks the territorial army

[theocd]

The reason it is classified as a terrorist attack is because of the political motives of the attacker and the attacked. Both have been shot by armed police, which shall make my dissertation interesting. I sincerely doubt SCO19 shot them 'in the kneecaps', centre of mass is the policy, which would justify why one is in a life threatening condition. - The OC-D

[Newfoundking]

I don't know how it works in Britain, but assuming this guy with the knives was the one that killed that woman, wouldn't it be considered some kinda felony for the camera man not to have tried to stop him in any way? I can just imagine how it would've went down in America. The guy approaches the camera man, before police or anything arrive, and the camera man activates his recording devices (you'll want every possible angle) and then takes out the man in a mob of stars and eagles. Speaking of eagles, nearby you'll see one shedding a tear...

Now that I've made my witty remark, which I'm sure some self righteous snob person will tear into me over later, I'll go with actual analysis.

This is the first I've heard of this attack, as I slept in late today, and woke up only in time to eat supper and then go to the station. This is the first time I've touched the computer since the sun rose today. I'm sure my opinion will vary as I get more information, but what based on what I've seen, you have one of two scenarios at hand.

A) An actual member of a middle-eastern/arabian terrorist cell, whose sole job was to create some havoc in Britain's capital, which I deem as the more unlikely* of events, which I'll explain why at the asterisk.

OR

B) A loon (google it) who just doesn't agree with the British involvement in the Middle East, therefore took it upon himself to be a domestic (his accent) terrorist.

IF this man is the terrorist, which I'll assume it is, based on the news report, he does qualify as a terrorist, not because he's attacking a western country because of their troubles in the middle east, but because he is trying to justify his actions.

"I'm sorry you had to see this, but this happens every day in the middle east" or something to that effect was what he said. This is justification, which is one of the few agreed upon items that separates terrorism from regular old crime. He is trying to rally the troops, so to speak (excuse any poorly timed puns) in his battle against middle eastern violence. This doesn't actually pose a real threat to the British people any further, mostly because police reports are that he has been shot and/or captured (a few news outlets weren't very clear on the matter.) Given the fact that people have been on our governments, and presumably our British counterparts, since about 32 seconds after deployment about pulling out, I doubt a crazed black/arab man with a knife/cleaver** is going to have any affect on the public opinion of involvement.

Usually I'd say, this isn't all, but one thing I noticed was that he didn't really give an association to any terrorist groups, nor have any groups taken claims to responsibility at this point, so given those pieces of information, I'd say these two are likely the only real threat posed at this time.

*I believe that this man is a lunatic, no doubt, and although people probably heard the infamous screams of arabic, which I'd say are more of a supposed thing, than factually correct, there is very little reason to believe that he is directed from anyone else but his own ideas. People get disillusioned, and suffer a fracture from reality, especially those who are undiagnosed, or untreated with a mental illness. All it takes is one small fracture, and then suddenly they go nuts. It happens, it sucks. This is why it's more likely that the attackers(?) will be domestic based, supporting the people in their "homeland."

**That was a knife and a meat cleaver in his hand. I did not, at any point, see a machete in the man's hands, nor one on the scene. We're not dealing with Jason Voorhees, we're dealing with a nutjob thinking he's fighting for Allah, and that he can take down the British Parliament with a knife and some poor soldier (Again ?) in the streets.

[met police999]

I havent seen the footage well enough but i think it was a random bystander but whos going to stop a cleaver weilding man who has blood over his hands but i agree on all your points made

[Handsup!]

I havent seen the footage well enough but i think it was a random bystander but whos going to stop a cleaver weilding man who has blood over his hands but i agree on all your points made

Probably would have caused more harm than good lol

[Entonox]

It's actually sickening that the media have released this footage, it's exactly what the scum want, and the reason they remained at the scene.

The people walking past as though nothing had gone on was also disgusting, you don't just carry on like that. Society today is well and truly disgusting.

RIP to the person involved, and i hope these terrorist don't die, but are kept in a dark hole for the rest of their life with nothing but their thoughts. sickening.

[theocd]

I agree, but then Social Media would have released it anyway, at least it is ratified by the mass media as a whole. As for the walking past, what else are you going to do? This argument always breaks out on forums, and we all hope we would be the one strong enough to do something, but we just don't know. Crowd psychology is very potent and affects people in different ways, all actions in what is hardly an every-day situation are far from thought about. I just hope the victim, the military and the police who shot him are supported as a whole - otherwise it just divides us. - The OC-D

[BritishArmyReserveCadets]

What about that scout leader lady who spoke to the killer and tried to negotiate with him?

[Entonox]

My point of people walking past was not the fact people didn't attempt to disarm them, but they walked past in the sense there wasn't somebody lying in the road, that there wasn't a knife wielding person, but just carried on is if things were normal.

I don't have an expectation that everyone is to put their underwear over their trousers and don a curtain as a cape, as until you're in that situation, you don't know what you would do, but again, just at the fact people aren't even looking surprised.

The scout leader lady is an inspiration and is the type of person i hope society will model itself after.

[met police999]

Nobody would get involved the reason being there was two knife weilding men who just horrificly butcherd someone some would be in shock

[goog]

To anybody who talks nonsense about normal citizens disarming 2 knife wielding lunatics, watch the video,in less than 10 seconds you'd be dead.It's not like Hollywood where Steve Segal disarms the thug with a arm sweep.Anybody dumb enough to attempt this would be a victim like the first guy.

Standing around and watching was not a smart thing to do either,in the end the right thing was done where the assailants were disarmed by the police.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ah_0gia4A0

[Newfoundking]

It's actually sickening that the media have released this footage, it's exactly what the scum want, and the reason they remained at the scene.

The people walking past as though nothing had gone on was also disgusting, you don't just carry on like that. Society today is well and truly disgusting.

RIP to the person involved, and i hope these terrorist don't die, but are kept in a dark hole for the rest of their life with nothing but their thoughts. sickening.

\

Your point about the media releasing the footage is just what the bad guys want, it's a two sided coin hotly debated in the terrorist literature world. I studied this a while ago, and we looked at a terror attack in the Former USSR. As you know, they were very controlling over there, and because of that, they denied all existence of the attack, and banned any publication of it. That stops the terrorists from winning, right? Wrong. It spread more fear, as we all know how Chinese whisper works (people add points to make it more interesting). By publishing that little speech, you are technically feeding the terrorists, but as news about the attacks would've got out anyhow, you're putting to rest some of the more scary stories that could've and probably would've arose. For instance, the two knife weilding men plan to blow up parliament. Britain's 9/11. Blah blah blah. It can get much scarier much quicker.

That being said, publishing it does run the risk of creating positive feedback for them. Not a big one, but a little one.

To anybody who talks nonsense about normal citizens disarming 2 knife wielding lunatics, watch the video,in less than 10 seconds you'd be dead.It's not like Hollywood where Steve Segal disarms the thug with a arm sweep.Anybody dumb enough to attempt this would be a victim like the first guy.

Standing around and watching was not a smart thing to do either,in the end the right thing was done where the assailants were disarmed by the police.

While I do not doubt you on your knowledge on this, in fact I agree with it, and I do not think that your average joe should try to take out a crazed man that just beheaded (?) a person. Truth be told, I'd call 999, or whatever it is there, and follow the bugger around, from a safe distance, until someone with a gun, or that had less a problem with dying than I arrived. What gets me is that everyone was just kinda letting things be, as if it wasn't real. Truth be told, watching it, it looked almost like a mock disaster of an active shooter/intruder, and they're currently in that grey area from the initial freakout to the arrival of the police. Everyone's just walking by, no one is really visibly freaking out. It's kinda surreal.

That being said, it's not necessarily a bad thing everyone was just chill about it, as opposed to wild hysteria, because that in and of itself is a problem.

I dunno, I just kinda expected more of a response, or something when you have a murderer wandering the streets, casually doing interviews with news media.

[TheCadetForce]

As Humans our basic instinct is to survive, so when we see such things happen infront of us our initial reaction is to not get involved. It takes a very special person to be able to attempt to stop 2 Knife wielding assailants. Also, you have to remember; 1. These two guys just cut somebodys head of in the middle of a public street. That itself will shock the 'average joe' and 2. They had a gun, which instantly goes back to the survival instinct.

[theocd]

WARNING: Potentially disturbing footage of Trojan Unit opening fire on suspects: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woolwich-attack-video-watch-shocking-1907772 - The OC-D

[met police999]

ffs they were bassicly asking to be shot hope they die bring back hanging why should they live good on those SCO19 officers for shooting them

[999madtom]

I know this is not about the terror attack on London but a plane had to emergency land at stansted airport because two guys had guns on a plane

[BritishArmyReserveCadets]

I read about that on the bbc, didnt say anything about firearms involved though?

[erfd]

Pretty sure they had a engine fire and had to land. No bad guys involved.

[met police999]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22658979 this is it here