Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

Arrested for no reason? Shot for no reason? So what?

Classic Mail here, with a story about two Muslim brothers who were wrongfully arrested - one of them was also shot - by police who raided their home in Forest Gate.

You may recall that being arrested and shot was actually just the beginning of their ordeal. Off-the-record briefings by Plod to various tabloids meant these two men were labelled as terrorists, despite their being no evidence whatsoever that they were involved in terrorism other than an incorrect tip-off from someone who was wrong; they were then, wrongly as well, labelled as paedophiles because of material found on a computer they owned, which they hadn't actually downloaded. Desperate to find justification for shooting and arresting innocent men, Plod did his best to smear them. And, knowing they couldn't be sued for reporting the words of a copper, no matter how malicious and wrong, the tabloids lapped it up without a single thought as to whether it was actually true or not.

There's the context - which the Mail ignores entirely to pursue its own deplorable agenda of anti-Muslim bullshit and 'guess who's paying?!' hatefulness.

In the commotion of the £2.2million police operation, which involved more than 250 officers, Mr Kahar was shot in the shoulder.
But no device was found and the men were released without charge after spending a week in custody.

That's what happens in a 'commotion', isn't it? I very often find myself shooting an innocent unarmed man whenever I'm in a 'commotion' myself. Well, these things happen, don't they. And is it too much for the Mail to point out that the reason why a 'device' was never found was because there never bloody well was one? No, they like to leave a hint of suspicion wafting around these two men.

For two months they and their relatives stayed - at taxpayers' expense - in a series of luxury hotels. The total bill for hotel and living expenses while their house, in Lansdown Road, was being repaired came to £90,500. But their demands did not end there.

How dare they be treated humanely after having been wrongly arrested! They should have been left on the streets. I suppose the taxpayer paid to have this injured man patched up as well! Disgraceful!

But seriously, the taxpayer forked out thousands for this botched raid anyway, which was based on duff intelligence and which was proved to be completely incorrect - yet the Mail doesn't care. It does care, however, that a couple of Muslim men were compensated by the taxpayer for having their house destroyed and lives ruined. That tells you where the Mail's priorities are. These men had beards, for goodness' sake!

They claimed that their clothes were 'contaminated' by police searching their home. For this, they demanded £200 each to replace them. Most of the family's financial demands were rejected by Metropolitan Police lawyers.

Hmm. I wonder how the Mail got this information? Oh yes, it's another smear from Plod trying to slag off these brothers and make us forget about the fact that they were shot and arrested for no good reason whatsoever! And yet again, the papers are loving it and doing exactly what the police want. Now, the Mail aren't always good friends of the police, but when you put the police in one pan and brown men with beards in another, it's fairly obvious which way they're going to go.

Sources said the deal with the brothers is due to be rubber-stamped in the next two weeks. Scotland Yard said that because of a confidentiality agreement, it could not comment on negotiations with Mr Kahar and Mr Koyair.

"We can't comment because of a confidentiality agreement, which is why we're telling you all this now so you can slag them off".

A neighbour of the brothers confirmed the pair still live at the Forest Gate home, the front of which appears newly decorated and features double-glazing inlaid with gold-edged diamond shapes.

Heh. You've got to hand it to the Mail. How dare these heathens have double glazing! And gold-COLOURED patterns! The very cheek of it!!!

And then, finally:

£2,211,600 was the total bill for the ill-fated anti-terror raid, excluding damages
£156,900 was spent on equipment for the raid, such as chemical and biological suits and thermal imaging equipment
£1,843,400 was paid in salaries and overtime to officers involved in the operation
£120,800 was the cost of restoring the houses, catering costs and erecting barriers for public safety

Yes, but forget about that: These nasty Muslims, who seem to be somewhat upset about being labelled terrorists when they weren't terrorists, want £60k!

What do we think Mail readers are going to have to say about this?

"Have decided to settle to avoid racial tensions" - This is crazy - not only is taxpayer's money be used, there does not seem to be ANY ACCOUNTABILITY. These people know there on to a gravy train for ever now. Get over it. Let some common sense prevail here for goodness' sake.
- Ann, London, 16/6/2008 5:48

Yes, this is crazy. Of course that's not why they settled. Maybe, Ann, Plod settled because they knew they'd have to cough up in court and explain rather embarrassing things, but told the Mail that it was to avoid racial tensions and so parroted that in their dick-sucking 'I believe everything that sources tell me and will never question it in the slightest, particularly if it puts a minority in a negative light and implies that PC madness is running the world' way?

Let's hope their benefits are now stopped.
- Frederick, London, 16/6/2008 6:51

People who are arrested should have benefits taken away from them? And are these men on benefits? And if they are, why do you think they are - maybe having your home raided and being wrongly smeared as a terrorist and paedophile isn't such a good thing to have on your CV?

These demands are sickening and totally unjustified. The police would not have carried out this operation without good cause.
- Pam, UK, 16/6/2008 7:14

Yes Pam, you tell them. They must have had a good reason to waste two million pounds of taxpayers' money, mustn't they. Or... maybe they just believed an informant who was little more than an idiot without checking any of his statements whatsoever before going in with guns? No no Pam, they must have been completely justified in what they did. You believe that.

So there we have it. Police waste £2million on a duff tip: nothing much to worry about. Victims of duff tip want compensation: how dare they!

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