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Tackling Terrorism
Since the 7/7 tube and bus attacks in London, national security has been under the spotlight. There is now a real urgency for us to find ways to minimise the threat of terrorism. Lots of measures have been proposed- unfortunately many of them result in the loss of certain freedoms for some if not all of the general public.
New laws have already prevented the "glorification" of terrorism and added to police powers against those found to be distributing material about terrorism, or providing training to aid those intent on violence. There have been concerns over the impact this legislation may have on freedom of speech and the law has come in for much criticism.
ID card have been suggested as a way to have greater control, but many are opposed to the idea and dispute how much difference it would actually make. Laws have been changed so that suspected terrorists can be locked up for longer and Tony Blair announced just yesterday that this is going to be further reviewed before Christmas.
The main issue is reaching a balance- keeping the nation safe, while not allowing the terrorists to destroy our day to day lives through fear and intimidation.
So how should we best achieve this? By working with young Muslims to prevent the build up of resentment and isolation that seems to be increasing with some Asian communities? Or by introducing hard-hitting legislation to take potential or suspect terrorists off the streets, even if there is little or no evidence against them?
It's not an easy subject but I'd really like to hear your views. I'm aware that this is the most important issue to many of my constituents and it's certainly something that is a central part of my work in Westminster.
Yours,
Gary
posted by Gary Streeter M.P. on Friday, November 17, 2006
1 Comments:
Difficult to find a magic solution to the threat now that past lack of timely action has allowed the threat of terrorism to grow in our country until it became manifest with the 7/7 suicide bombings.
I don’t believe that ID cards will do anything to help the terrorist threat. Indeed, the billions of pounds that will be wasted in their production would be better spent on increasing numbers in our police forces and in counter-terrorist measures. Surely our passports and National Insurance numbers should be identification enough – but past governments have been deplorably lax in issuing them (especially National Insurance numbers that seem to have been handed out like confetti).
ID cards will be very costly in terms of national spend and in terms of personal cost when individuals apply for one. They will do nothing to detect the countless foreign nationals who just come over ‘for a visit’ and never return to their native lands, or identify the greatest threat from disaffected British-born muslims and muslim converts, or stop them becoming radicalised either in the UK or abroad. So let’s use the money more sensibly.
Increasing the teams of people who are working today to identify and eliminate potential terrorists will do most to avoid further disasters. The current laws should ensure that plotters are found and locked up before they can act, and deported as necessary afterwards. The inclusion of telephone tap evidence is long overdue and the law should be changed to include this, but further tinkering with procedures and penalties is not necessary. It is the detection of cells working against the interests of Britain and all its people that is crucial now.
I would like to see the ethnic communities that have formed protected enclaves within our country to be strongly encouraged to open up to identify the radicals within their midst (who are truly the enemy within) and to start a meaningful dialogue with other British people. Learning the language might help! We should see active intervention to stop non-British behaviour such as murder of other family members (so-called honour killings), the practice of forced marriages, sacrificial killings of young children, or enslavement. We have all become aware that these practices are manifest in sections of our community and they should be rooted out and prosecuted vigorously until they stop. We have long suffered a woolly liberal mentality towards them as being part of an ethnic culture. They are not part of our ethnic culture and those wishing to practice them must not be allowed to do so here.
Hopefully, the radicalisation of the current generation will not continue into the next if all people of goodwill wish it to stop and say so loudly, and act on their words. The introduction of a substantial reward to anyone giving information that leads to a conviction would be of untold assistance to our cause.
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