Unfortunately, it looks like the government will narrowly scrape through their new 42 days terror suspect legislation, as there don’t seem to be quite enough backbenchers with the backbone to put a stop to it.
This new law will do little to improve the safety of the travelling public. Transport systems have long been a target of ambitious terror groups, but the statistical chances of any passenger being caught in a terrorist atrocity remain extremely small, as they are for accidents on public transport. We were told on the BBC’s Question Time last week by Foreign Secretary David Miliband that the extension of questioning to 42 days instead of the current 28 would act as an “insurance policy” for potential future trials, but a much better insurance plan must surely be to prevent the radicalisation of young Muslims from happening in the first place. Once somebody is hellbent on committing such acts (and we really are only talking about a very small handful of extremists each year), it won’t make a scrap of difference to them whether they are likely to be held for 28 days or 42, but holding any innocent person for up to six weeks is a total affront to the fundamental principles of habeas corpus, for which so many other countries look so admirably on the British legal system.
Instead, all we will see a further erosion of our civil liberties in the name of public protection, when the real objective of this legislation is to try and secure some desperately needed tabloid support for our blundering loser of a Prime Minister. This whole debacle reminds me of a quote which is popularly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but which is actually believed to have originated from his fellow diplomat Richard Jackson:
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”
The travelling public now have the double whammy of needlessly heightened security measures and having to pay through the nose for the oil price bubble, both which can be attributed to the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq. Weren’t we told that this too would be an insurance policy against terrorism?
- Affiliates 4 U Forum Thread (For A4U members)
