Terrorist threat 'exploited to curb civil liberties'
Security measures brought in after September 11 attacks 'undermined the rule of law'
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Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has accused the Government of exploiting public fear of terrorism to restrict civil liberties.
Her comments came on the same day as a report published by international jurists suggested that Britain and America have led other countries in "actively undermining" the rule of law and "threatening civil liberties" in the guise of fighting terrorism.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Dame Stella said that a series of increasingly draconian policies have led British citizens to "live in fear and under a police state".
The 73-year-old said: "Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the attempt to pass laws which interfere with people's privacy.
"It would be better that the Government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism: that we live in fear and under a police state."
Dame Stella, who became the first female head of MI5 in 1992 and held the position until 1996, has long been a vocal critic of the Government's plans to introduce ID cards and lengthen the amount of time terror suspects are held without charge to 42 days. In the interview yesterday, she also criticised the United States.
She said: "The US has gone too far with Guantanamo and the tortures. MI5 does not do that. Furthermore it has achieved the opposite effect: there are more and more suicide terrorists finding a greater justification."
The former MI5 chief chose to air her views on the same day as a three-year study called for urgent measures to stop the erosion of individual freedom by states and the abandoning of draconian measures brought on with the "War on Terror".
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said the legal framework which broadly existed in democratic countries before 9/11 was "sufficiently robust to meet current threats".
Instead, a series of security measures were brought in, many of which were illegal and counter-productive, instilling anger and resentment expressed through violent protests.
One worrying development, says the report, was that liberal democracies such as the UK and US have been at the forefront of advocating the new aggressive policies and that has given totalitarian regimes the excuse to bring in their own repressive laws.
The ICJ panel, which included Mary Robinson, the former Irish president and United Nations Human Rights Commissioner and Arthur Chaskelson, the former president of the South African constitutional court, gathered their evidence from 40 countries.
They took testimony from government officials, ministers, and people in prison for alleged terrorist offences.
The actions of the US has immense influence on the behaviour of other countries, the study maintained, and the jurists called on President Barack Obama to repeal policies which came with the "war on terror paradigm" and were inconsistent with international human rights law. "In particular, it should renounce the use of torture and other proscribed interrogation techniques, extraordinary renditions, and secret and prolonged detention without charge or trial".
The report stated: "The framework of international law is being undermined... the US and UK have led that undermining."
The jurists examined cases which included "individuals abducted and held in secret prisons, where they have been tortured and ill-treated; terrorist suspects held incommunicado for extended periods before being charged and before they have access to lawyers; a culture of secrecy (in which) suspects are being placed beyond the basic protections afforded by... international humanitarian laws".
The ICJ "received evidence that intelligence services... effectively enjoy impunity for human rights violations. In addition... state secrecy or public interest immunity have been used to foreclose civil suits and hence remedies to the victims of such abuses."
Mr Chaskelson, chairman of the panel, said: "... we have been shocked by the extent of the damage done over the past seven years by excessive... counter-terrorism measures..."
A Home Office spokesman said: "We recognise clearly our obligations to protect the public from terrorist atrocities while upholding our firm commitment to human rights and civil liberties. Our policies strike that balance."
'War on terror' The mistakes repeated
*Giving evidence to the panel, Sir Ken Macdonald, Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions said: "There is no such thing as a 'war on terror'... The fight against terrorism on the streets of Britain is not a war. It is the prevention of crime, enforcement of our laws ..."
The report also says the "war on terror" is repeating the mistakes made by the British in Northern Ireland. It states: "Sometimes the parallels are almost surreal. Witnesses talked of the failed detention policies in Northern Ireland as having led to 'hundreds of young men in working-class nationalist communities joining the IRA and creating one of the most efficient insurgency forces in the world ...' One must wonder, 30 years later, what impact the sight of the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay or Abu Ghraib is having on young Muslims in Britain and elsewhere."
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Comments
The real tragedy of the last 8 years is that investigative journalism had a hand in murdering truth by standing aside and letting it happen. And then, to add insult to injury, the pseudo journalists threw dirt on the shallow grave, like a cat trying to cover up its own stinking sh t, as they all rode side saddle up front in the tanks as embedded propagandists, who just got a little too far into bed with the devil, were satiated - in the words of Bill Hicks by Satan's pecker - fell asleep in the morning, missed their deadlines and acquiesced whilst their integrity was stolen from them by the devil's guile!
When the 'true journalists' return, then normality may resume.
But whilst we have cowards.....
We need to be realistic as well as idealistic. The unseen heroes of the Security Services deserve our full support and sympathy for the difficult and challenging job in keeping us all safe.
When Britain finally put out a warrant for Abu Qatada, MI5 hid him in a London safehouse:
Another one of Dame Stella's protégés was Abu Hamza al Masri aka Captain Hook, the veteran jihadi who got his hooks after he blew his hands off while making terrorist bombs. Abu Hamza sent terrorists all over the world, including his own sons (who got arrested in Yemen), the "20th 9-11 hijacker" Moussaoui, and the shoe bomber Richard Reid, and indoctrinated two of the London 7/7 bombers - probably during his pavement sermons in front of Finsbury Park mosque, from which the Muslim Council of Britain ejected him. "Captain hook" was able to continue giving jihadi sermons on the pavement thanks to the gracious services of the Met, which provided him with a police cordon [photo].
Stella Rimington and her successor Stephen Lander were up to their elbows in manufacturing the terror that Blair & Brown use as an excuse to institute a police state, whose purpose is now becoming clearer as the deepening recession sparks riots and threatens governments all over Europe.
Since Tony Blair blindedly glued himself onto Bush's skin, then we started to see such descents into the beginning of the abyss. The lack of experience of Blair and the hawkish postering by the neo-cons disarmed Blair and locked his reasoning away. The result is language and attitude, by Blair and his backers, sounded alarm bells and the current team in office is not to be blamed for entirely.
The scene here is so end-of-the-millenium ridiculous, it's like the Balkanization of Russia--economically as well--but without the Russian Mafia. Instead, we have the Black Mafia, the Jewish Mafia, and of course the regular Italian Mafia. And these groups all play their little roles in the New World Order.
Whoever opened this can of worms should be shot, as it has has resulted in the bankrolling of cronies/idiots, vampirization of the world's banking system, and the destruction of the foundations of decency in my country. The men who wrote the Constiution, Bill of Rights, established the foundations of a republic and working democracy--they are toast.
As far as Tony Blair is concerned, to be fair, he and the UK came to the aid of the US when everyone was horrified by 9/11 and snookered by GWB's Oedipal scheme to get Saddam. I think that Blair's initial actions were nostalgic, Churchillian, and noble. What Blair knew and when he knew it (re: WMD) is up to his own conscience and Britain to figure out. But the saddest part of it is there are no more Winston Churchills. His era is past us.
Now we harken back to Winston Smith (1984). And the nightmare of it all is that with all the advanced technology of the so-called 'masters of the universe' things are running in the most incompetently imaginable way...
What price freedom? We don't need history to answer that question for us, as we already know.
Reduced to simple terms - it's a way for non-producing, economically bankrupt countries (USA, UK) to retain their financial hegemony, by brute military threat. An alliance of "haves" who live well at the expense of "have-nots" who live in permanent fear of the air strike on their capital city by the combined military forces of the USA and Britain. No? Tell me how the USA attacked a European country and bombed its capital, attacking civilian housing, bridges, stations being used by civilians? And that zionist Nazi sow Billary "We landed under sniper fire" Clinton is now back in charge and ready for more.
TONY BLAIR - a traitor and warmonger who sold his country to the NWO for cash. Manufactured the factual basis of three USA-initiated wars (Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq). Didn't attend the funeral of a single soldier who died doing his bidding - couldn't be bothered.
JACK STRAW - a pro-Zionist warmonger who still believes there are WMD in Iraq. Said he'd refuse to meet any of his constituents if they dressed according to their religious beliefs.
GEOFF HOON - lied and cheated his way to the top. Sent the British Army to do Bush's bidding for free, and didn't even give them suitable kit. Subsequently tried to walk away from responsibility for the ensuing deaths. Has been rewarded by the NWO with a cushy top-paid sinecure.
"LORD" MANDELSON - another ambitious neo-con crook who has found his religious background a distinct advantage in becoming one of the highest-paid warmongers in Britain today. Currently promoted to being in charge of business - about which this smarmy liar knows nothing whatsoever.
DAVID MILIBAND - the most dangerous of the neo-nazi Zionists. A ruthless and vicious warmonger, Miliband has been active in anti-Russian activities. Actively defended Georgia's territorial war on S Ossetia and Abkhazia, in which huge numbers of civilians were attacked and massacred by Miliband's ally President Suckarse-vili of Georgia. Got his b*llocks badly bruised when Russia counter-attacked and kicked the Georgian Army back to where it belonged. Most recently this gutless little tosser has been active this week, denying a visa to Russian concert pianist Grigory Sokolov to come and play his sell-out concert in London. This is the level of spineless w*nk that defines David Miliband's reign as the worst Foreign Secretary since WW2.
"SIR" JOHN SCARLETT - the clueless tosser who utterly failed to predict either 9/11 or the London bombings. Was promoted as a result. Well done, Sir John! You are truly a talentless twonk.
"SIR" IAN BLAIR. An crypto-Nazi copper who had some kind of "hold" over his paymasters to prevent his dismissal. Ordered, planned and executed extra-judicial beatings and slayings, with the assistance of his loyal fascist thug, Cressida Dick. Blair subsequently avoided prosecution for his crimes and retired on a massive pension - Dick has been promoted.
The truth will always come out because "nothing is as it seems"
And what of today and the legacy/peace dividend which sees Orange and Green equally irrelevant and "groomed"/succoured and suckered into the traditional western capitalist government role model? Is there a monumental failure of independent Intelligence/United Irishman Intelligence to lead a small smart nation on a path to shared greater riches which generates a more harmonious cointerindependency for a mutually beneficial, future educational nurturing of Society, to Create a Smarter, Learning, Creative People well versed in the Power of Mass Edutainment, which they can Use at Home to Build a New Regional InterDependency and InterNetional Force, which can easily be adopted and adapted and exported to every and any broken spot on the planet.
40 years of dumb chaos and crazy mayhem* have not been wasted on some who would recognise the folly of its cynical placement in service of its less than wholesome supporters/backers ..... into Destabilisation as their Means of Maintaining Foreign Money Power Control through National Debts and the Management of Perception for Big Picture Controls which ingrain the Notion that Repayment is Due to Keep the Folly Functioning.
However, Times have changed, and SMARTer Beings/CyberIntelAIgent Organisations into Virtualisation and Quantum Communications Technologies and Methodologies are Offering Alternative Vision Programs complete with all Necessary AIdDrivers and Stealthy IntelAIgent Support with Public Monies XXXXStreamly well spent in Holywood for the Nervous Centre which Relays Mentored and Monitored Local Support and InterNetional AIdD Operations ..... Virtually, by Virtue of New Fangled, Entangling String Theory and Binary VXXXXine/Digital Virus.
And that puts Northern Ireland and its Populus at the Forefront of Future Binary Technologies, Leading by Living Example, as Virtual AI Operating Systems are BetaTested to Never Fail, other than Always FailSafe.
* Been there, done that, learnt more than most can ever even begin to imagine?
Nobody is better qualified to say whether or not th rise and rise of the snooper State is necessary.
KNEW THAT ALL ALONG!
to curb civil liberties.
They are now able to freeze accounts, listen to our phone calls, read our mail, arrest us without charge,
the list is endless.
Surveillance, invasions of civil liberties on a daily basis and 24/7 tracking of individuals via ID cards CCTV and now wanting to access telephone calls and emails.
The war for terror is already lost, the govenment have become the terrorists curtialing our freedoms and rights. Be afraid, be very afraid.
If someone photographs the police or military doing something against the law guess who ends up in jail.
The Catholic Christian teachings in the Apocrypha (as edited out by Cromwell) are apposite: "Bring to the Light that Which is Hidden".
Mark.
Blair was flawed in his judgments, clouded by his religious convictions and primed by misinformation from his own and US intelligence services.
Brown, though I believe sincere, has not the flair nor the strategic insights to do more than follow the patterns established by his advisors.
But we will use them to destroy your hard won liberties.
The few, such as myself, were ridiculed as conspiracy theorists because we recognized the different, seemingly unrelated, controls being implemented for the most spurious reasons. Bit like separate pieces of rope, when tied together create a net of control against the masses.
I am relieved more are waking up to the reality.
I am even more relieved that it is being questioned at international level, because this cabal refuse to listen to the people. Yet more evidence of their totalitarian behaviour.
Similarly, Blair did not change the Treason Laws because they were out of date, surplus to the needs of the modern world, they were changed to protect themselves. They need to be re-instated.
Parliament needs to grow some backbone, call on the Queen and ask her to dissolve this government. Blair, Brown, Mandelson, Campbell and all existing and previous members of this cabals cabinet should be charged with fraud, corruption, treason and war crimes.
Time for them to take stock of where their loyalties should lie and stand up and be counted, or be considered 'fair game' when the rioting commences.
Furthermore all these "Wars" are promoted by the same elite group who finance, manipulate and use terrorism, or are the terrorists, make lots of money on drugs trading and money laundering and have an interest in keeping a large percentage of the population poor.
Since each of them started "terrorism" has increased, drug consumption gone through the roof and the gap between rich and poor widened. The Law of Attraction in action.
This pessimism seems borne out. No one can doubt that New Labour have used the so-called war on terror as a pretext for dismantling civil liberties, and are constructing a society in which the (illusory) safety of a police state with blanket surveillance and summary sentencing without courts is the ideal norm.
but will the authorities take heed?