Jul 02 2007
THE RESPONSE TO TERRORISM
??I read plaudits about Gordon Brown’s measured response on TV to the three car bombs of recent days. I agree he said the right things, but the issue should be will the government now do the right things?
??This morning I read more about the continuing war on terror. Calling it a war glamorises the terrorists - they are common criminals of a particularly nasty and violent kind and should be treated as such. They enjoy the privilege of living in a relatively free democratic society - they are free to express their views, campaign for change, stand for election where they are British citizens. They should not be given a special status as political criminals if they instead decide to bomb and kill.
Is this government really new? If it is in this area it should
1. Stop tallking about a war on terror
2. Allow intercept evidence in court with suitable protection of?? sources where necessary
3. Intensify surveillance, eavesdropping and infiltration of terrorist networks.
4. Stop people from entering the UK who have links with terrorist organisations or who give reasonable grounds for suspicion concerning their intent.
5. Deport non UK citizens already here where there are grounds for concern.
What it should not do is intensify asymetrical physical controls in the belief that they will catch terrorists by making everyone else’s life more difficult. This morning we are told the BAA is stopping people driving to the doors of an airport terminal to drop people off. Yet this same morning I got on a crowded tube train with no checks on people, baggages or packages, despite previous successful bomb attacks on the underground railway. Why do the authorities think the next attack will be like the one that has just failed at Glasgow airport, rather than like the one that killed people on the undergound?
It is sufficient to warn us all to be vigilant, and to concentrate scarce police and security resources on getting closer to terrorist cells and suspects, rather than making life more difficult??for the long suffering passenger. As a tube traveller I??understand the difficulty in providing ??more physical security at tube stations. The last intensification of security at airports did not prevent the car bomb at Glasgow. Unfortunately there are always different methods??for criminals to attack us. If the airport authorities succeed in persuading more people?? to go to Heathrow by tube, rather than by car, it makes a tube bomb even??more worrying.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
“1. Stop tallking about a war on terror”
Since we have to implement nasty measures aimed at terrorists and their supporters, it is not a bad idea to call it a “war”. They are not just criminals (i.e. something the police should deal with), they are international terrorists. I don’t think it matters what we call it: to Islamists, this is a holy war and that justifies their evil actions.
I like your 2. - 5. Will Cameron endorse these points? And will the EU allow us do them?
Yes, I think the Conservatives will agree with my points. I noted the Home Secretary today took up the point that they are criminals.
Well I think it is a war, not just against us but ultimately against peaceful Islamic civilisations such as Saudi Arabia. I think we should hand over Al Qaeda terrorists to the Saudi Arabian authorities, so they can find out the hard way whether or not they have broken Sharia law.
The ammendment to the European Convention on Human Rights allows to restoration of the death panalty at times of war, therefore we can legislate to allow the extradition of terrorists to the Saudi’s.