Shays Says U.S. Has Much to Learn From U.K. Terrorisom Response
LONDON
The Norwalk Hour
Jamie Hammon
Boston University Washington News Service
9/19/06
WASHINGTON — America has much to learn about the United Kingdom’s recent success in combating terrorism, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) said Tuesday, including the need to improve communication between the federal government and local communities.
“The key in the disruption of the [August] London bomb plot [involving plans to smuggle liquid-based explosives onto airplanes] was that it was foiled before the would-be terrorists got to the airport,” Shays said. “We understand local and international elements of the British counterterrorism apparatus helped secure the crucial tip that led to the capture of the suspects.”
Shays spoke at a hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, which he chairs. British and American terrorism experts participated in the panel’s discussion on lessons learned from foiling the London plot.
Some of the American experts said some of the means of terrorist identification used in the United Kingdom – such as profiling and relaxed privacy standards for citizens – would force Americans to sacrifice some of the civil liberties they expect and demand.
Former British counterterrorism official Tom Parker said that another crucial difference between the two countries is the way they view terrorists. The United States sees terrorists as an entity on which to wage war, while the United Kingdom simply views and treats terrorists as criminals, he said.
Shays disagreed.
“You went after my most heart-felt belief – that terrorists aren’t criminals,” he said. “To me, to equate a terrorist with a criminal and give them 10 years of legal rights, I find absurd.”
Parker, who helped set up the tribunal currently judging Saddam Hussein in Baghdad and is now the executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, said that though terrorists commit crimes on a massive scale, they are still crimes. Declaring war on terrorists rather than subjecting them to standard criminal proceedings only legitimizes the terrorists’ efforts, he said.
Shays also disagreed with accusations that the war in Iraq, and U.S. foreign policy in general, have increased terrorist activity.
“I have seen basically 20 years of what I call Islamist terrorism, and I see it directed primarily to the West and primarily to the United States,” he said. “And I have seen no reaction to it, and I sometimes bristle over the thought that somehow we are making it worse, when I have just seen it grow and grow and grow.”
Shays also spoke of his frustration with Islamic officials.
“I want [to hear from] the leaders, the clerics, the people who can make a difference – they are totally and completely silent,” he said. “I have as much conviction about that as anything else I have. I want to know about what the people who can change it in their own faith are doing.”
Shays repeatedly expressed his frustration that the American public and its leaders are uninformed and unclear about strategy.
“I don’t hear this on the talk shows, I don’t hear this on the House and Senate floor, I don’t hear the administration talking about what our strategy is,” Shays said. “I conclude that in the United States there is no understanding of what the strategy is, no sense of agreement, and no dialogue.”
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