Flailing in panic

Over the weekend Tony Blair proposed a number of measures in the name of "fighting terrorism" which would leave the UK with nothing left to defend: attacks on freedom of speech, of conscience, of religion, and on the right of Habeas Corpus and the right to be free from torture. And now it seems to be getting worse, with further suggestions of treason charges against people not for what they do, but for what they say (or even refuse to say), and talk of secret courts where suspected terrorists will be forbidden to face their accusers or hear the evidence against them. This is not "business as usual", it is flailing in panic in a desperate attempt to be seen to be "doing something". But its not "doing something" that's important - it's doing something effective. And again, none of the measures proposed would help at all to prevent further attacks. To the contrary, they will further alienate Muslims from the rest of British society, and feed the sense of injustice that drives people to look the other way and tacitly support terrorism - which is exactly what happened in Northern Ireland the last time this sort of repression was tried.

The British government needs to take a deep breath and calm down. The quick arrests after the July 21st bombings has shown that existing law-enforcement powers and tactics are well up to the task, and the charges being laid will be sufficient to send those involved to jail for a very long time. In terms of preventing attacks, what is needed is greater tolerance and reversing that pattern of alienation - not arresting or deporting people based on the books they read. But this is a long-term project, and not nearly as visible (and therefore as politically advantageous) as a crackdown.

One of the purposes of Al Qaeda's terrorism is to convince Muslims that there can be no accomodation with the western way of life. Blair's paniced response is playing right into the terrorist's hands...