Tony Blair....has he totally lost the plot?

[ianess]

Has our esteemed Prime Minister, who was recently re-elected with the smallest proportion of votes ever, now taken upon himself Presidential powers?
He seems to be becoming more and more extreme in his views, the most obvious being the way he wants to introduce up to 90 days detention for suspects while the police find the evidence to bring charges. This smacks of "police state" tactics where innocence rather than guilt has to be proved.
This man seems to be even more dangerous and extreme than his good friend David Blunkett.....plus the fact that there is no need to prove that he really does have weapons of mass destruction.
Who or what is next on his hit list, and how can he be stopped?

[surfer mike]

Oneeyedvic.. I would personally back something like 60 days would you or would you be against that too...but then again i' won't be held responsible if this country is hit with another terrorist attack and have endless hindsight annies in the media and public attacking me for not putting measures in place to protect this country..the question about will it prevent another 7/7 probably not but it will make it harder for them, and how do any of us now it won't, history will judge that.. btw its not blair who is asking for these measures its the police they want more time to obtain information and evidence on the individual in question...now it all depends how much faith you have in the british police, by quoting martin niemoller you seem to be saying that you trust they will be like a gestapo...crazy but i'm afraid all too predictable if reading many posts on here recently is anything to go by..

On the vote tonight it won't surprise me in the slightest if he loses, and a comprimise will be found which will be nearer 60..and then we will have threads a plenty saying even that is too long..in politics it is ever thus.

[blinkyblinky]

If the police have evidence, then why not charge someone and let a jury decide? If they don't have evidence, why should the police be given powers to arrest people on the off chance that some time in the future they may be able to dig up some dirt on that person?

As mentioned by a previous poster, arresting hundreds of innocent people and then releasing them without charge is only going to increase hatred and resentment.

Terrorists have a lot of good reasons for hating the west. I'm not saying those reasons justify what they do, I'm just saying that to solve the problem you have to understand the causes and try to do something about it. After the London bombings, Blair said that there was no link between the bombings and Iraq. Then we have a video of one of the bombers describing himself how he was doing it for his Iraqi brothers.

Look at America after 9/11. There was such a feeling of goodwill towards the USA, and now it's one of the most detested countries in the world. If you act like a b@stard and a bully, people are going to hate you and want to harm you. If you act in a fair and just way, you will never have many enemies wanting to attack you, and when you do, you will have plenty of friends ready to help you.

[Oneeyedvic]

To answer your question Surfer mike - no I personally would not feel happier with anything over 28 days - but like you I am not responsible for the security of this country.

The reason I quoted Niemoller is that I feel that civil liberties in this country are being eroded, and the mass of people seem not to care, assuming that they won't be effected. When they do become effected it will be too late.