Missiles to protect London 2012 Olympics

[Evil Eye]

(CNN) -- Ground-to-air missiles at the 2012 Olympic Games? It's not a new sport added to the London line-up, but proof that Britain's government is taking security seriously.



Defense secretary Phillip Hammond has confirmed that such weapons will be at the disposal of those tasked with ensuring public safety at the UK capital's summer showpiece.



He told parliament that a full range of options would be available for protecting the Games, which kick off on July 27.



Hammond was asked by his predecessor, Liam Fox, to confirm if a full range of multilayered defense and deterrents would be on hand, including surface-to-air missiles.



I can assure him that all necessary measures to ensure the security and safety of the London Olympic Games will be taken including -- if the advice of the military is that it is required -- appropriate ground-to-air defenses, Hammond replied.



Earlier on Monday, British newspaper The Guardian had claimed the United States was planning to send 1,000 security personnel, including FBI agents, to the Olympics after developing concerns about arrangements.



The paper said that the UK government is having to field more and more questions on security from its U.S. counterpart, with one source saying of the White House: They are being very demanding.



It also claimed the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has decided to more than double the amount of security guards protecting the 32 Olympic sites across the country to 21,000 from 10,000.



The Guardian quoted the UK Home Office, responsible for home security, as saying its Olympic planning was on track and that the funding was in place.



The government is committed to delivering a safe and secure Games that London, the UK and the world can enjoy, a spokesman said.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/14/sport/olympics-london-security-missiles/





o.o

 

[Skillet]

These events are known to be targeted. In my mind, better safe than sorry.

 

[Bryd0]

I heard this on the news recently, but I don't really know if the UK is taking its security very seriously or are they being too over-protective for the upcoming Olympics. I mean, as far as I know missiles didn't guard the Olympics in Beijing, Athens or Sydney.

 

[Jazzy]

The Guardian quoted the UK Home Office, responsible for home security, as saying its Olympic planning was on track and that the funding was in place.

[font=tahoma, geneva, sans-serif]They have funding for missiles and 21,000 security guards but yet...

Growth has stalled in Europe and there is a risk of a new recession, said European Commissioner Olli Rehn. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15669197

What's wrong with this picture? The only ones benefiting from the Olympic Games are Londoners. Are they going to share all the money they make from these games with the rest of the UK? I think we all know the answer to that question.

 

[The Dragon Master]

@Jazzy: Yeah.... We all know the answer to that... But to be fair, there are venue's all around England I think. But the majority of it is in London

 

[Cranos]

They have funding for missiles and 21,000 security guards but yet...







What's wrong with this picture? The only ones benefiting from the Olympic Games are Londoners. Are they going to share all the money they make from these games with the rest of the UK? I think we all know the answer to that question.

Great Britain is not really all that affected by the crisis though. They're not part of the eurozone. The countries with the biggest problems are Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium.

 

[Skillet]

Wow. It's a very sad state we find ourselves in when something that exists to create bonds between people like the Olympics need to have this level of protection. You never heard of anything remotely like this when I was a kid. It is very disenheartening to see the road this world is on. The whole human race is just a huge mess, in so many ways. Very sad.

This is true. And it seems as time progresses, things keep getting worse.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

Those who would desert liberty to gain momentary security deserve neither, and will lose both.

 

[DrLeftover]

If those who do such things wish to kill innocents at the Olympics and are willing to kill themselves in the bargain, they will kill innocents at the Olympics, and there isn't anything anybody can do about it.

 

[Skillet]

If those who do such things wish to kill innocents at the Olympics and are willing to kill themselves in the bargain, they will kill innocents at the Olympics, and there isn't anything anybody can do about it.

Terrorists CAN be stopped before impending doom.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

The thing is how far we need to go to stop them. If we need to wiretap people, profile people, intimidate people, and do things to take peoples' liberties away..

 

[Evil Eye]

The thing is how far we need to go to stop them. If we need to wiretap people, profile people, intimidate people, and do things to take peoples' liberties away..

Indeed and because you have to balance that, people will always find a way to harm others

 

[Skillet]

If something is found to do more good than bad, it will probably be accepted as legal in a free and democratic society. IE, if security checking every person in an airport may find a terrorist, I'm all for it. Just an example.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

Security checking everyone at the airport doesn't guarantee you'll catch a terrorist, but you would be putting people through a lot of hassle. Especially if you're 95 going through security screenings with an adult diaper and a metal hip.



The terrorists have already won in my opinion. If they can make a democratic country sacrifice the very ideals and liberties it was founded on. Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

 

[Skillet]

There definitely has to be a fine line to what is ideal.

 

[The Dragon Master]

The thing is, you say this is going overboard, but if terrorists do attack and kill hundreds of people, many people will say they didn't have enough security, they should've had this and that

 

[Fatal Dawn]

Some poor guy burns himself and people will blame McDonald's for making the coffee too hot. There will always be some kind of blame or suspicion or finger-pointing after something happens. Sometimes it's for things that were unpreventable. The thing is today there are so many extremists out there (domestic and abroad) willing to do crazy things and put people in danger. There's no denying that, but there's also no justifying the methodology of the past. Who knows what is being done now, we are just hearing more about mk-ultra...





It is not simply against future conspiracies of evil men which we have to guard ourselves but it is against ourselves, against our weaknesses and faults in our own social order, in our own ways of living against which we have to be on continual guard. - Donald Ewen Cameron

 

[DrLeftover]

If I had had such a wish, and the funds and resources of a government who used such tactics behind me....



I would have secreted multiple explosive devices in the new arenas and perhaps residence buildings as they were being constructed by bribing one of the contractors or a night security guard or two. Perhaps with internal clocks set to go off during the event. That way they could not be affected by random interference or a last minute change of heart. And I would have silenced those that placed the devices, perhaps for good.



And since a 'dirty' bomb really doesn't have to be all that powerful to be effective, that might be the best way to go.



Then once the bombs did go off, make the plans public on a website such as Al Jazera to let the world know that it had been planned long before and was not an accident or from a gas main leaking.



But, you know, that's just me. Nobody would ever do that to make a political statement about how much they hate the west.







But of course, searching old ladies at the airport and checking the food vendor carts would deter something like that.