BOOOOO!
In Michael Moore's "Dude Where's My Country", the fourth chapter is entitled "The United States of Booo!"Moore goes on the describe how, since 9/11, the US nation has been scared witless into giving up long cherished civil rights. This has been achieved by creating endless wars: "war on terror, a war to liberate and rebuild Iraq, war against Iranian clerics, a war against the North Korean madmen, a war against the Columbian drug lords, a war against extremism, a war against Communism in Cuba, a war against Hammas, a war against...." . The press has been gulled.The American public has been completely taken in by this stuff. And now we are seeing the same tactic, with a slight variation, used by Saint Tony, Bush's ally in prayer. It started off with the "sexing up" of the threats from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and moved on to local grown Al Q'aida cells. Remember the tanks rolling up and parking outside Heathrow's terminals last winter. Remember the arrests of those Iraqi Kurds in their mobile phone shop in Manchester? None were charged with any terrorist offences. Then we set up bogey-men-Abu Hamza. And of course Downing Street are always asking. "How will this be reported in the Standard, the Mail or the Sun?"So now from the same source who told us in Dodgy Dossier ver1 Sept2001 "I am in no doubt that the threat[from Iraqi WMD] is serious and current, that he has made progress on WMD, and that he has to be stopped" we now have the government's Emergency Advice Booklet.Of course contains helpful advice if your house is flooded or if you find someone with a broken leg. But just about every news bulletin on the day of publication used the word "terror" in its headline. No mention of Reducing Fire Hazards in the Home-page 7. Or How to Deal with Burns-page 13. And, believe me, the written media were even more lurid. In fact the title of the booklet on the government's website is "26_07_04_terror". Try it. So we do know how it did play in the media. And what has Blunkett offered for protection. Emergency procedures under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. Part 4 of which provides for indefinite detention without trial of non-UK citizens. No charge is required. The presumption of innocence, traditional rules of evidence and other procedural protections thrown away. And by November 2001, the Government has derogated from its obligations under Art5(2) of the Human Rights Act. A step taken by no other signatory to the European Convention. Even Spain, after the Madrid bombing, felt much more attached to it's Convention signature! The Home Secretary clearly wants to build on these Draconian powers. There's a growing crescendo of calls for identification cards linked to a substantial database storing a huge amount of private information. And of course it's the database that's the villain. The card itself, even with biometric details, is unimportant. And we now hear that the Labour manifesto for the next election is one which will have law'n'order and the fight against terrorism at its heart t
posted by Tony @ Monday, August 02, 2004
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