Another anti-empire report

Bill Blum's latest round of short blurbs, as usual, are worth a read. In particular, I want to point you to this excerpt:

The cold-blooded murder of the 27-year-old Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes, by London police may become a symbol for the War on Terror along with others like the hooded and wired man of Abu Ghraib. It appears now that the police lied about Menezes wearing a bulky jacket, running from them, jumping over the subway turnstile, and being "directly linked" to the bomb investigation. But even if all of that were true, what would be the justification for his execution? That he might have been a suicide bomber just about to explode himself in a crowded subway station? But if that were true, why -- when the police were getting closer to him, then closer, then on top of him -- why didn't he set the explosives off? Should not the absence of any explosion have instantly told the police that they were dreadfully mistaken?

Indeed, the Menezes killing doesn't get much press anymore. A cynic could say that's because the story the police crafted to justify his execution has unravelled, completely.