Great Political Blunderers

ralphrepo · Apr 9, 2009

Are boneheaded, idiotic, or foolish politicians what we need more of? Of course not. But, recognizing that they do exist the world over, we can collectively have a laugh at them, and their mistakes here. In what I hope to be a continuing thread that highlights political faux pas from around the world, please contribute those that you find:

-detect

ralphrepo · Apr 9, 2009

I guess the title of Intelligence Official has become a bit of an oxymoron:

In a rush? For a quick synopsis, just read the red highlighted lines.

Terror raids follow files blunder

Twelve men have been arrested in the north west of England after Britain's most senior counter-terrorism police officer sparked a security alert. Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick said he "deeply regretted" revealing a secret document to photographers when he arrived for a briefing at No 10.

The document, clearly marked "secret", carried an outline briefing on an ongoing counter-terrorism operation.

The 12 suspects were later arrested at locations across north-west England. It is understood raids took place at 10 addresses sooner than planned due to the documents being revealed. Opposition MPs criticised Mr Quick, with the Liberal Democrats describing him as "accident prone" and the Conservatives condemning his "very alarming" lapse of judgement. But former Labour Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said it would be wrong for such an experienced officer to resign "for holding a piece of paper the wrong way". Home Secretary Jacqui Smith made no comment about the officer's mistake. Instead, she praised police for their professionalism. "The decision to take such action was an operational matter for the police and the security service but the Prime Minister and I were kept fully appraised of developments," she added.

Some hours after the Downing Street incident, armed officers from the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit arrested a man outside the main library at Liverpool John Moores University. Students said they heard police shouting at two suspects as they were advised over the library loudspeaker to stay away from the windows for their own safety. Journalism student Daniel Taylor said: "I saw a man on the floor. Police were shouting at him and one of the officers had what looked like a machine gun pointed right into his head." Police wearing blue plastic gloves were searching the man, along with a second man nearby, and both appeared to be "ordinary students", Mr Taylor said. Ten of those arrested are Pakistan-born nationals on student visas and one is a UK-born British national. Their precise ages are not known but range between a youth in his mid-to-late teens and a 41-year-old man. Greater Manchester Police said several hundred officers were involved in the operation, including armed officers during some of the arrests.

Five addresses in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester, including an internet cafe, are being searched. Three premises are being searched in Merseyside, plus a guest house in Clitheroe, Lancashire. Two men are understood to have been arrested at a Homebase DIY store in Clitheroe, where dozens of police officers carried out a raid. In Cheetham Hill, witnesses described two men being taken from the cafe after police arrived. Mesu Raza, who lives in the flat above, said: "I saw police arrest two people and put them in a police van. They had handcuffs on, they were Asian men, and the police were armed." The counter-terrorism officers were assisted by officers from the Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire police forces. Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, head of the North West CTU said: "Today's action is part of a continuing investigation and we have acted on intelligence received. "This phase is still in its very early stages, so the information we can release about it is limited."

Earlier on Wednesday press photographers in Downing Street pictured Mr Quick clutching a white document marked "secret" and containing the names of several senior officers, locations and details about the nature of the overseas threat. Details of the information revealed cannot be reported. Mr Quick was attending the meeting in his role as lead for counter terrorism and for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). On Wednesday evening he apologised to Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson for the error. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Assistant Commissioner Quick accepts he made a mistake on leaving a sensitive document on open view and deeply regrets it." Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said Mr Quick's judgement had been called into question. "This was highly sensitive information that should not have been carried under an arm in front of a line of photographers," he added.

Secrets revealed

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick seems to be increasingly accident prone which is potentially dangerous given the serious responsibilities of his role." Ken Livingstone said: "The idea that we should offer up the person who's at the head of our counter terrorism, with years of experience - a dedicated public servant, for one mistake of holding a piece of paper the wrong way - well, al-Qaeda will be delighted." Mr Quick, once seen as a "safe pair of hands" by Scotland Yard colleagues, ordered the controversial arrest of senior Tory MP Damian Green over alleged security leaks. Last December, he accused the Conservatives of involvement in newspaper stories about his wife's hire car business.

It is not the first time secret information has been revealed to journalists who habitually stand outside Downing Street.

Last year housing minister Caroline Flint inadvertently showed off secret Cabinet briefing notes revealing a steep projected fall in UK house prices.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7990719.stm
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I wouldn't be surprised if Bin Laden had died from laughing too hard.

Flames · Apr 9, 2009

^ damn he's smart =="

ralphrepo · Apr 9, 2009

flaming said: ↑

^ damn he's smart =="
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LOL... He may have been smart; now he's also unemployed:

In a rush? For a quick synopsis, just read the red highlighted lines.

Blunder Drives Out U.K.’s Top Terrorism Officer
By REUTERS
April 9, 2009 Filed at 4:01 a.m. ET

LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer quit on Thursday after a security blunder was believed to have forced a major operation to deal with a suspected al Qaeda plot to be brought forward. Scotland Yard's Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick was photographed entering the prime minister's residence on Wednesday openly carrying a secret document revealing plans to crack down on a group suspected of plotting attacks in Britain. Hours after he and the document were pictured, police arrested 12 men in unusual daylight counter-terrorism raids across northwest England.

Quick, who issued an apology after news of his error broke, decided to resign from his post on Thursday.

"I have this morning with great reluctance and sadness ... accepted Bob Quick's resignation as head of counter-terrorism," Boris Johnson, London mayor and chairman of the body that oversees London police, told BBC radio. Opposition politicians had indicated they believed Quick's position was becoming untenable. "This could have blown a major counter-terrorism operation -- very fortunately it didn't, the arrests were still made," Conservative Home Affairs spokesman Chris Grayling told BBC TV. The document, headlined "Briefing Note: Operation Pathway" and marked "secret", described the operation as a "Security Service-led investigation into suspected AQ (al Qaeda) driven attack planning within the UK". It said 11 people were targeted for arrest, 10 of them Pakistan nationals in Britain on student visas, and one British. Fifty-two people were killed in July 2005 in suicide bombings on London's underground and bus network.

"NO WITCH HUNT"

The mistake was not the first time that Quick had come under fire from politicians. He was criticised for ordering the arrest of Conservative Immigration spokesman Damian Green and a search of his parliamentary offices last year as part of a probe into leaks of government information. The row escalated when a newspaper ran a story in which he claimed the Tories had mobilised the press against him. Johnson, the Conservative London mayor, said there had been "absolutely no kind of witch hunt" against Quick. "But what people perhaps felt was this was extremely unfortunate (that) an operation that was very, very sensitive and important for counter terrorism had potentially been compromised."

Officers are continuing to quiz the 12 suspects arrested during the raids by hundreds of officers across northwest England. One was held at Liverpool's John Moores University, two at a home improvements store in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and one on a motorway in Manchester. Four others were held in Liverpool and four in Manchester. The arrested men ranged from a teenager to a 41-year-old man, police said. Officers also searched eight addresses in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009...al-britain-security.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26I12A_BeVc&feature=channel

When someone so publicly, drops a major ball like this, I doubt that he really had the option to resign; he was probably told in no uncertain terms that he needed to leave.

Great Political Blunderers

ralphrepo Well-Known Member

ralphrepo Well-Known Member

Flames Out of Date User

ralphrepo Well-Known Member