Manchester concert bombing suspect identified

[Blue_Adept]

Source: CBS News

LONDON -- CBS News confirmed Tuesday that the man who blew himself up the previous night at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, was 23-year-old Salman Abedi, who was known to British authorities prior to the attack.

In a generic statement posted online, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for Abedi's suicide bomb attack, which left 22 people dead, including children, at one of the entrances to the Manchester Arena.



Read more: http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/BREAKING-Confirmed-fatalities-after-reports-of-explosion-at-Manchester-Arena-423724613.html

[geek tragedy]

1. "was known to British authorities prior to the attack."

This seems to be a theme.

[Else You Are Mad]

2. I was going to post the same thing.

It seems to me that a lot of these intel and law enforcement agencies are much better at finding and/or arresting terrorists only after the attacks are committed -- even if they are known terrorists and are currently being watched. I don't know what the solution is, but the current system in the western world is not working.

[christx30]

6. Seems like that Lifelock commercial, with the

bank security guard saying "Hey. Your bank is being robbed." Why monitor something if you're not going to do anything about it? "Sure, we knew him. We've been watching him and his friends, right up until they blew up in that crowd of 12 year olds."

[Else You Are Mad]

8. The problem is...

There is a thin but very important line between arresting people for thought crimes and actual crimes like conspiracy and attempted terrorism. I don't want to go down the road to start arresting people for thought crimes, but I believe the moment they seem like they are going to take steps to acting on the crime, they should be arrested.

[christx30]

11. Take the case of Anjem Choudary, an Islamist activist.

He was investigated numerous times for starting Islamist organizations and praising the 9/11 and 7/7 attackers. He urged people to travel to Syria to support ISIS. It took the British government 16 years to find a crime that they could charge him under. He's currently serving 5 years for support of ISIS. How many young men did this guy influence in that time? How much damage did he do?
If you're going to wait until the bombs start, what's the point? I'm not advocating thought crimes. But at some point, when terrorism suspects start pointing to this guy as their influence, there's way too much smoke for there not to be any fire. And stronger laws need to be in place to deal with them.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. You do seem to be advocating laws against thoughtcrime

You want "stronger laws", but not about actual acts. So that must be about guessing future intent.

[christx30]

17. I'm advocating more teeth to go after people

while they are still in the "Death to the West" talking phase, before they start strapping bombs to themselves.
Or, hell, we could just keep going like we have been. "We were watching this guy. Then he killed 30 kids. Oh well." Like Choudary, sending people to fight and die in Syria. He was a hate preacher, and the hate speech laws in Britain should have stopped him. Yes, his organizations were banned, but nothing happened to him. People died because of his words, and nothing happened to him. The guys that killed Lee Rigby? His people. Some estimate he recruited 100 people to go fight in Syria. How many people does that represent?
I'm not talking about thought crimes. But there is a line. On one side you have freedom of speech, and the right to express yourself. On the other side, you're praising the murder of nearly 3000 people on 9/11 and the deaths on 7/7, holding up pictures of Osama bin Laden, you're on the other side, and more needs to happen than "we were watching..."

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. So if it's the advocates you're saying need tougher laws, you're assuming they're in the UK

Yes, there's probably someone who talked this guy into mass murder. But these days, we can't assume they met face to face.

[Blue_Tires]

19. 1. You underestimate just how many ppl it takes to watch someone 24/7

2. The watch list is quite long and we don't know how high (or low) this monster was on the priority list...

[Plucketeer]

3. Sadly

Having evil in your heart is not grounds for prosecution.

[Else You Are Mad]

4. But ...

Inchoate crimes such as conspiracy are illegal.

[C Moon]

5. I heard experts talking about how difficult it is to guess which person is actually capable

of committing an act. There are so many suspects that could be leaning toward a suicide attack, but I guess they have to wait for chatter or other evidence before they can arrest someone.

[Rustyeye77]

7. Salman Abedi ? Him ??

never would have guessed it.

[rollin74]

9. another terrorist mass murderer who was "know to authorities"

[Rustyeye77]

10. Same here in the US

until they DO something they are free to plan and proceed.

[Crowman2009]

12. Another great job by the Tory govt. in preventing terrorism.

[leftynyc]

14. Perhaps they should just round up everyone

who they're watching and put them in jail to keep them from committing violence. Would that make you happy? Because that's the only other choice.

[Crowman2009]

15. I wasn't even talking about that!

I'm referring to how the Theresa May and her Tory minions are using this attack as a reason to vote for their party in the upcoming parliamentary election.

[leftynyc]

16. Your implication being

the Labor party (which is such a freeking joke, I wouldn't HAVE a party in GB) would do better.