Thursday, March 11, 2004

FREEDOM LOSES

There's not much I can add about today's carnage in Madrid. It speaks of inhumanity, frustration and pain.

But, UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw's comments on Channel 4 News that the bombings tilt the balance in the question about civil liberties are staggering. The bombers win when we here the likes of Straw using this attack as an excuse for infringing freedom. Leave aside the Basque question, which I suspect few commentators will tackle. Today's bombings must not lead to further draconian measures against civil liberties. [Ed's Note: please let me know if you can find a transcript of Straw's interview. It's not on the C4 site.]

I believe that many or most or maybe all but a few of the bombers are sick individuals. But, attacks on liberty and self-determination provide the fertile soil in which grows the discontent that can lead to young men and women taking up arms. Attacks on liberty help the bombers and produce more bombers.

One further observation: several of the talking heads claim that today there are many more links between "terror" groups. I disagree. There have always been very close links between the IRA and ETA, not to mention strong affinity with the old PLO, Red Army Fraction, Baader-Meinhof, Action Direct et al during the Seventies. Of course, most of the above probably also received funding from East Germany, Libya, and elsewhere. Does al-Qaida now provide succor; technical, tactical and strategic assistance; financial support? If so, then surely it will be easier to trace the links and crack these organisations.

So, perhaps more and better policing, but not less civil liberties...

:: Posted by pete @ 22:18