Hysteria in the police, media and government

The Register reports on a recent “terror trial” that was a resounding failure. Deservedly so. For the case was ridiculous, the evidence laughable and the motivation worrying.

Three men were last week cleared of charges after one of the global war on terror’s more ludicrous trials. They had been accused of an imaginary plot to produce an imaginary radioactive ‘dirty’ bomb using an imaginary substance. Imagination throughout proceedings was greatly aided by the efforts of Mazher Mahmood, the imaginary “fake sheikh” who produces scoops for the News of the World, which has been known to imagine itself a newspaper…
So, if the terror squad became involved in Mahmood’s operation because they genuinely believed in the existence of red mercury, we should worry. If on the other hand they didn’t believe it existed but pursued the case on the basis that people attempting to obtain terror weapons, non-existent or not, should be caught, we should still worry, but for different reasons.

pax et bonum

Article posted at 11:24am on 31 July 2006
Category: General

Interesting, because I recall that “red mercury” also blayed a role in the mysterious death of Robert Smit, who was a senior civil servant in South Africa, about 20 years ago. I’ll have to Google to refresh my memory of the case, which was a cause celebre at the time.

Steve Hayes () (URL)
08:38am on 03 August 2006