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October 2, 2006
You may like to think...
You may like to think that the following couldn't happen here.
BBC - US Senate backs terror trial bill
The US Senate has passed controversial legislation endorsing President George W Bush's proposals to interrogate and prosecute foreign terror suspects.
However, during a heated debate, Democrat senators accused the administration of tearing up 200 years of legal standards by removing detainees rights such as habeas corpus - the right to challenge their own detention.
Unfortunately, you'd be wrong as the Labour government has already attempted to introduce new anti-terror laws that would remove habeas corpus for terror suspects. That they have yet to succeed has not stopped them from further attempts.
And don't think that a Prime Minister Brown would be any better. His conference speech last week showed a continuing commitment to the War on Terror. What the Conservative stance on this matter is, should become clear at this week's Tory Party Conference. Unless they squander their time arguing about tax cuts.
"But", I can hear you saying, "this law only applies to terror suspects. Why should I worry?". The answer is simple, because Governments tend to extend the use of legislation beyond its original application. And the definitions of people covered by such legislation tend to be rather too flexible, with the consequence that more and more people are affected. There have already been numerous examples of anti-terror legislation used to prevent peaceful protest; define a peaceful protestor as a potential terrorist and you can detain the "trouble makers" for as long as you like.
Posted by Clive on October 2, 2006 7:47 AM in the category Labour