QandO

March 05, 2004

Terror is NOT just a law enforcement problem
Posted by McQ

For those of you content to see terrorism treated as only a "law enforcement" issue as the presumptive Democrat nominee would see it you can expect a lot of the following should he get his way:

A German court Thursday overturned the world's only conviction for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and ordered a retrial of a Moroccan found guilty last year of aiding the Hamburg cell of suicide airplane hijackers.

Of course that follows:

Thursday's ruling brought a new setback for prosecutors after the same Hamburg court last month acquitted el Motassadeq's friend Abdelghani Mzoudi of identical charges for lack of evidence.

That's not to suggest that innocent people should be railroaded into prison or execution. However, it does point to the fact that treating it ONLY as a law enforcement issue leaves its ultimate determination to different courts with different interpretations of the rules of evidence and underpinned by differing laws. It also limits the field of those pursuing terror suspects to law enforcement and it eliminates any pressure on states who are tacitly or overtly supporting such activities.

It should be remembered that the Clinton administration treated terrorism as strictly a law enforcement issue and was totally ineffective in combatting it ... seeing a continuing and escalating use of terrorism against the US culminating in the WTC and Pentagon attacks.

Limiting our response to terrorism to only law enforcement is a one-dimensional response to a multi-dimensional problem. That is precisely what John Kerry proposes to do, and it should be condemned for the weak and ineffective response to terrorism that it has been shown to be.

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