Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland
'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot

Monday 18 October 2004

Our own values matter ...

... and must not be sacrificed in our efforts to thwart terrorism. I do not know the truth behind what is going on here (a British diplomat, formerly in Uzbekistan, has been suspended on full pay after having been recalled to London), but coupled with the detentions without charges or trial at Guantanamo, a few in the US itself, and detentions at Belmarsh here in the UK, it is a worrying sign that the freedoms we are supposed to be protecting are perhaps being subverted, quite possibly irreversibly, by our own governments in our efforts to defeat terrorism and despotism. Is not this the terrorists' own purpose - to reveal to the world our willingness to abandon our own values? If we are ever to prevail, it must not be by adopting methods best left to tyrannies.

Am I being over-dramatic here? I would like to think so, but ...

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