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Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist Detention Law He Wanted

By TChris, Section War on Terror
Posted on Wed Nov 09, 2005 at 01:55:39 PM EST
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by TChris

British lawmakers, unmoved by scare tactics and reluctant to sacrifice civil liberties, declined to adopt Tony Blair's proposal to authorize police to detain suspected terrorists for 90 days without filing charges.

Instead, lawmakers, including some from Blair's own Labour Party, voted for a maximum detention period of 28 days without charge.

A 28 day detention based on nothing more than suspicion is egregious, but at least it's less draconian than three months behind bars. Sadly, Blair doesn't get it.

He also said he could not understand why lawmakers were putting "the civil liberties of a small number of terrorist suspects" before the public's "fundamental civil liberty" to be protected from terrorists.

In other words, "I'm not taking away your rights, I'm taking away their rights. And they're bad. Really, really bad." That reasoning collapses as soon as innocent people are falsely accused or wrongly suspected. Once the conversation shifts to "the rights of wrongly suspected individuals" rather than "the rights of terrorist suspects," it's easy to understand why "terrorist suspects" must enjoy the same right to be free from unreasonable detention as everyone else. Why is that so hard for Tony Blair (and for many in the U.S.) to understand?

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    • Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist Detention Law He Wanted | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#1)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:53 PM EST
    hitching his wagon to the bush playbook ain't gonna get him very far, especially in the aftermath of the underground bombings. where's the imagination, tony?

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#2)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:53 PM EST
    We've already seen how they overreact and lie about murdering an innocent 'terrorist subject.'

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
    I continue to be amazed by the relentless attack by the Left on the process of fighting terrorism. If we actualy lived in a world of fascist propaganda, in which the government was fabricating an unseen enemy against whom draconian repressive measures were being instituted, I could sympathize. But how more real does the world-wide jihadist movement have to be? From bombings in nightclubs, subways, office buildings and hotels around the world, to statements by the jihadists themselves of their goal to destroy Western Civilization, what truth is missing here? The behavior of the Left is to continually eat its young; attacking it's own society and civilization, shrieking for the protection of the very killers who seek to destroy; holding up the inevitable exceptions and mistakes committed by the West as proof of the true corruption and evil of their own society, in an orgy of self-immolation reminiscent of the implosion of the Roman empire, destroyed by the barbarian hords. I respectfully invite your comments at www.liberallyspeaking.blogs.com

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#4)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
    Mr. Kessler...isn't the Neocon plan to rebuild Iraq in our image just a mirror version of a jihad? Except that the jihadists are not trying to forcefully turn our country into a theocracy.

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
    Ernesto, It is an exactly mirrored plan, meaning pefectly reversed to each other. They seek to establish a fascist theocracy, and we seek to establish a free pluralistic secular society. However, for a Leftist who imagines that the West is a fascist theocracy, the difference is undiscernable. However, simple observation would tell you that the West today has created one of the freest civilizations in history. Of course, it doesn't live up to the Leftist fantasy of "perfect democracy", with "perfect human rights" and "perfect equality" with all human suffering eradicated through total state socialism, which is why the Left continues to eviscerate the very culture that has given it the freedom to seek it's own destruction. You see, the Left persues a socialist dream of perfection that no society can ever attain, but in denying that impossibility, the Left interprets those who disagree with it's methodology as standing in the way, even opposing that social perfection. Such opposition must, in the minds of the Left, be the product of evil. Therefore, George Bush, or Republicans, or conservatives, or Christians, because they oppose the methods of the Left, are held to be devils. At the same time, anyone who opposes the conservative West is seen as the enemy of my enemy. That is why the Left supports Palestinan terrorists and Muslim jihaddists, and opposes the Patriot Act and the border fence. That's why they oppose fighting terrorism whether domestically or abroad. That's why, in their minds, the Iraqi people MUST feel occupied, because it is the evil West that is in their streets. That's why they call Syrian terrorists in the streets of Baghdad "freedom fighters". That's why they see no difference between Lyndie Englund putting underwear on a man's head and Zarqawi CUTTING OFF a man's head. And that's why the greatest condemnation they can make of Zarqawi is to say that he's just as bad as George Bush.

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#6)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
    That's why they see no difference between Lyndie Englund putting underwear on a man's head and Zarqawi CUTTING OFF a man's head.
    Uhh.... If it had been limited to underwear on the head, it would never have been splashed on the news. BUT, people died in their care. And dead is dead. Your attempt to compare atrocities left out that part.

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
    torture is torture, murder is murder, rape is rape, kidnapping is kidnapping. And our generals and president have already said this is a crusade, AKA jihad. BTW, iraq was a secular state until we invaded, not it is the best recruiting poster for religious extremism in the world. (Std disclaimer: SH was a bad, bad man, and cutting people's heads off is wrong.)

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
    As for establishing a secular state in Iraq, didn't the Iraqis just enshrine Islam as the ultimate source for any law in their country into the constitution? How in the world is that creating a "pluralistic secular society", Bob K.?

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
    And yeah Saddam was a horrible guy. He was horrible while the U.S. was selling him biological weapons and he was a horrible guy after the U.S. used him as a proxy in a war against Iran. He has never changed his colors, but the Uniteds States ruling elites perception of him surely changed over time. A bad man under our control is ok, but once he wants to have some autonomy this is seen as a direct threat to U.S. hegemony and our rulers just can't have that.

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#10)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:57 PM EST
    Robert, I ,for one, am happy when terrorists are brought to justice, I just don't want western governments to become terrorists to stop terror. Holding a suspect of any crime, be it mass murder or shoplifting, for more than a few days without due process is terrorism in my opinion. We can bring mass murderers to justice without gestapo tactics.

    Re: Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist (none / 0) (#11)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:58 PM EST
    However, simple observation would tell you that the West today has created one of the freest civilizations in history.
    And you can thank us card-carrying ACLU-radical-leftwing-pinkos for that, since it certainly isn't due to the reactionary bigots that lie in your political bed.
    And that's why the greatest condemnation they can make of Zarqawi is to say that he's just as bad as George Bush.
    You, Bush, and the jihadists are all soulmates. You want to create the perfect society through violence. Here's an idea, how about you go kill eachother and leave the rest of us out of it?

    Blair Fails to Secure Passage of the Terrorist Detention Law He Wanted | 11 comments (11 topical)