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Saturday, July 09, 2005

Time for a sophisticated European approach to terrorism

In today's New York Times, we find two very interesting articles, excerpted below:
Despite Terror, Europeans Seem Determined to Maintain Civil Liberties

As in the United States, there is a debate in Europe about the relative weight that needs to be given to civil liberties on the one side and law enforcement on the other. But Europeans are generally more inclined to err on the side of civil protections, because they are convinced that taking too severe a line only makes matters worse...

[snip]

European countries have passed no equivalents of the Patriot Act, but they can nonetheless claim considerable success for their reliance on ordinary police work and intelligence, despite the Madrid and London bombings.

The British police claim to have derailed several previous bomb plots. And in Germany, radical Muslims are under close surveillance, their homes, offices and computers subject to searches by the police in regular raids. Some organizations suspected of fanning hatred have been banned, and a few suspected extremists have been expelled.
The article also notes that "In general, ... British police intelligence has been very good at keeping tabs on Muslim radicals inside Britain...."

Then there's this article:
Italians Fear They'll Face Next Attack by Terrorists

At the airport, border agents pored over the passports and suitcases of incoming passengers, especially those arriving from the Middle East....

[snip]

Video cameras already oversee high-risk areas like train stations, reservoirs and "neighborhoods with a high density of immigrants," said Guido Manca, the municipal security commissioner.
Ordinarily, I'm not impressed with what I find in the Times, particularly when they're fawning over how the Europeans do things. But...

The Europeans are right. We should ditch the Patriot Act. It's time to stop snooping through library records, confiscating granny's nail clippers and making America remove its shoes. Let's address the real problem, in keeping with the enlightened European security measures described above:
  • Ban potential hate groups
  • Expel their members from the country
  • Raid the homes and offices of suspected Muslim extremists
  • Go through their personal files and computers while we're at it
  • Use special police intelligence to track suspected extremists
  • Give special attention to airline passengers from the Middle East
  • Keep an extra close watch on suspect immigrant communities
This is what countries that really care about civil protections do. You know, European countries. The Times says so. If President Bush came up with a civilized anti-terrorism policy, like the German practice of regularly raiding the homes and offices of Muslim radicals, though, I wonder how the NY Times editorial board would respond. And the ACLU.

In the US, we have little things like the equal protection clause and Constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, random detainment, etc. that stand in the way of these sophisticated European protections of civil liberties. That's why everyone has to put up with the nonsense.

I'm personally only marginally averse to making life miserable for radical Muslims hellbent on destroying our society if that's what it takes to let the police do their jobs well instead of continually restaging the current homeland security farce. But given the NYT's regard for foreign fighters pulled off the battlefield and brought to Guantamo, I suspect they'd be a little upset if Bush decided that a certain class of citizens - Muslims - logically deserved extra close scrutiny while ordinary white - and black - folk went about their business. I wonder if the NYT editorial board, ever concerned with liberty and justice for all, will glance through the news pages long enough to note the blatant profiling and harrassment of Muslims in Europe. I'm not holding my breath waiting for their editorial condemnation of Germany, Italy and Great Britain.

posted by gbarto at 3:41 PM  


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