Resistance is Phutile

Blair and the committee.

Interesting watching the committee Blair is facing this morning.

Asked whether he thought it acceptable to send people back to countries where they faced the risk of torture, Blair answered no, but our obligations do not extend to ensuring the safety of foreign criminals over ensuring the safety of our own citizens. True, maybe. But what constitutes a dangerous criminal in Blairite Britain? We only have to look at the absurd cases of arrest under the anti-terrorism laws to realise just how blurry the distinctions are. Are we to understand Blair would deem it justified to send Milan Rai or Barbara Tucker off to be tortured?

Explaining why he thinks it right that British citizens should have their liberties stripped away one by one Blair said that modern society poses new challenges, and we must adapt to face them. A simple matter of evolution, then. Apparently blaming immigration (seriously) for much of these new 'challenges' the PM argued for a "balance between liberty and security", saying we need to "tilt the system". Part of this new formula, he went on, was the loss of right to trial by jury and that old 'innocent until proven guilty' nonsense.

Incredibly, he then immediately followed this up by pleading that his government be judged on evidence, not what is printed in the media.

Stating that the Muslim community needs to be purged of "a completely false sense of a grievance against the West", he pointed out much had been done with the Muslim community since 7/7, although he didn't say what any of this work actually was.

And try telling all the innocent Muslims in the ME who have suffered at the hands of Western foreign policy that their sense of grievance is "false".

posted by Phu @ 11:22 am