Blair faces showdown on terror vote

[MetSudaisTwice]

salam
it looks like tony blair is prepared to punish 'terrorist' as much as he wants to. is this really fair?

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair will risk his first major defeat in parliament on Wednesday in a bid to allow police to hold terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge.
Ministers were forced last week to shelve the same plan when it became clear rebels in the Labour Party were poised to join opposition parties to vote against it in the House of Commons.As national elections in May slashed Blair's parliamentary majority to 66 -- meaning fewer than 40 Labour members can defeat him by voting with the opposition -- the vote will be tight and his opponents are standing firm.

"We have consistently said that a 28-day period of detention is the maximum period that we would support," said Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative Party.
Blair has tied his authority to the anti-terrorism measures, saying the extension from 14 days will help police tackle a new threat laid bare by Islamist suicide bombings in London in July that killed more than 50 people.
Some insiders say Blair's decision not to fight another election has weakened his authority.
Chancellor Gordon Brown was forced to interrupt a visit to Israel soon after arriving in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to return to London for the vote.
Brown's aides said the chancellor of the exchequer had received a communication from Labour Party officials saying he was needed in London, but would return to the Middle East immediately after the vote.
"Things have changed quite late," an aide said. "It is not just about his vote it is about him being there."
Brown had been due to tour Israel and the Palestinian Territories to explore how the international community could help regenerate a regional economy badly damaged by conflict, meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
BLAIR CAUTIOUSLY CONFIDENT
A government source said Blair was cautiously confident he could win over enough waverers to a proposal which critics say rips up centuries-old tenets of the law and will boost recruitment for militant groups.
Having talked of the need for cross-party consensus, Blair has now asked Labour MPs if they want to side with their Conservative enemies.
Blair also believes public opinion is on his side.
A Populus opinion poll on Tuesday showed 64 percent of those canvassed supported the 90-day detention proposal.
Blair's government had seemed resigned to defeat on Monday, saying it would amend its Terrorism Bill to lower the detention limit. But it later offered only a "sunset clause" whereby the law would lapse after a year unless parliament renewed it.
Police say they need 90 days because investigations into terrorism can take considerable time, often involving international checks and the decoding of vast amounts of encrypted electronic data.
London police chief Ian Blair said officers had reached the figure based on the experience of a number of trials and investigations. He rejected compromises of 28 or 60 days put forward as separate amendments to the bill. "There are people plotting mass atrocity without warning," he told reporters. "It is chilling what we're seeing and we're very worried and alarmed about it."
wasalam:peace: