Terrorism - Where Does This Leave London?

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Online Exclusive on Mon 15th Mar 2004

The latest terrorist atrocities in Spain remind us of an alarming phenomenon: terrorism inflation. After September 11, casualties have to number hundreds; otherwise terrorists do not get the publicity they crave. We have been warned. The al-Qaeda network has London in its sights.

After the politicians have expressed their shock and horror and the religious rites have been performed what more can be done? The experts are frank: some terrorists will get through if they are determined enough. But that is no reason not to do our utmost to stop them.

The key is intelligence, in both senses of the word. Spying, surveillance, informers; these are the techniques of counter terrorism and the police and security agencies have to employ them in our defence. We all have to be vigilant.

But intelligence in the wider sense is also needed. The people who perpetrate atrocities are cruel but not stupid. They are trying to provoke a reaction, making us lose our cool and compromise our freedoms. They can then attract sympathy and martyrs.

That is why Guantanamo Bay was such an 'own goal' for the Americans. And why we may come to regret the 30,000 police raids in Britain on (largely) Muslim family homes resulting in under 1% arrests and even fewer charged.

In extreme circumstances preventative detention is justified, as when Oswald Mosley and his fascists were detained during the Second World War. But the abandonment of centuries old rights like Habeas Corpus is dangerous and counter productive.

It is tempting to believe that there are 'political' solutions as occurred in colonial times when the British army fought nationalist guerrillas, or as in Northern Ireland. But the new terrorists, like al-Qaeda, have no discernible political agenda beyond mass destruction: hence the extreme danger.