Monthly Review Zine article. posted by Richard Seymour

There was a remarkable moment in London last month when the Israeli Defence Force looked more restrained than the Metropolitan Police. Having shot an unarmed civilian in the head seven times (and once in the shoulder), the Metropolitan Police was suddenly obliged to explain to the public a policy that had been decided on in secret. The guidelines of Operation Kratos, designed in response to 9/11, said that suspected suicide bombers must be shot in the head. This was necessary, the police said, in order to stop hand movement. If an officer is reasonably certain he is faced with a suicide bomber, he must destroy the brain "instantly, utterly," as former Met Police commissioner Lord Stevens explained to the News of the World tabloid. That weekend, the IDF -- who helped train UK police in handling suicide bombers -- managed to intercept a would-be suicide bomber and prevent him from detonating himself. No shots were fired; a man with an explosives belt strapped to him left the scene alive.