Posted on 04/16/2005 5:38:00 PM PDT by David Hunter
Britain's most senior police chief has called for new laws to combat terrorist conspiracies, saying the UK is being targeted by al-Qaeda.
Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said ID cards should be given more consideration, as should iris recognition technology.
He told BBC One's Breakfast With Frost: "There's real clarity now that al-Qaeda affiliates are targeting Britain."
His comments come after ricin plotter Kamel Bourgass was jailed for life.
'Loose-knit conspiracies'
He was found guilty of murdering Special Branch Det Con Stephen Oake in a Manchester flat in January 2003, and received a further 17 years for conspiring to cause a public nuisance after police discovered an al-Qaeda ricin poison plot.
Bourgass, from Algeria, was in the country illegally when he killed Det Con Oake.
Sir Ian said: "I think we obviously have to mourn the death of Stephen Oake.
He added: "The important point is to say this is one individual, not the whole Muslim community, who are law-abiding, and we have to work to support them."
He said: "99.9% of Muslims and 99.9% of Asians are law-abiding people and we've got to support them in that and understand the difference".
Sir Ian said legislation around "acts preparatory to terrorism" was needed to deal with cases such as Bourgass's, as al-Qaeda operates using "very loose knit conspiracies".
Asked whether ID cards should be introduced after the election, he said: "I think there has to be further consideration of that.
"I wasn't particularly keen on ID cards until recently - until I began to understand the way in which identity theft is carried out.
"There are no more printing presses in basements. The documents that are being produced are exactly identical to the real documents, they're just unauthorised," he said.
"And so we have to go to a place where we do know who people are. We now have the technology, I think through iris recognition, to go to that and I think that would be very helpful."
He said the problem with people such as Bourgass was that they were unknown to authorities.
Labour are in favour of an ID card scheme, whereas the Liberal Democrats are opposed and the Conservatives promise to review the idea, if elected.
Labour's election co-ordinator, Alan Milburn, said that if returned to power, the party would immediately re-introduce the Identity Cards Bill, "which we consider to be a major priority".
BBC political correspondent Shaun Ley said Sir Ian was "pushing at an open door" on the issue of new laws to punish terrorist conspirators.
He said the Tories have stated they would introduce the law if elected. The Lib Dems believe a consensus could be found after the election, he said.
However, comments on the ID card scheme were "highly political" and "very potentially controversial", he said.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: "Liberty remains clear that the case for compulsory ID cards has not been made.
"Law enforcement and other vital services must remain politically neutral - especially during an election campaign. Politicians come and go but the public needs confidence that policing goes on regardless."
However, the government's claim that national ID cards would have helped to stop the ricin plotter, Kamel Bourgass, is cynical and dishonest. Sir Ian Blair said the problem with people such as Bourgass was that they were unknown to authorities, but he was known to the authorities and they didn't act against him when they could have.
Asylum seekers are already issued with ID cards which carry their finger prints, a photograph and details about their age and nationality. However, the existing asylum seeker ID cards don't cover failed applicants - maybe its time they did.
In a written parliamentary answer weeks ago, Des Browne, the immigration minister, said: 'It is not intended to issue ID cards to failed asylum seekers.' So how could the proposed national ID card scheme have provided the Police with details about Kamel Bourgass and given that he was a failed asylum seeker on the run and he was planning to commit terrorist acts, then who thinks he would have presented himself to the authorities to get an ID card if he was required to have one?
Anyway, Bourgass was arrested in East London for shoplifting in 2002. He was reported to the immigration authorities but no enforcement officer was available to interview him or take him into custody! Magistrates could have deported or detained him, as he was an illegal immigrant, but instead they fined him £70 and freed him. So if the correct procedures had been followed when he was in Police custody then he would not have been able to stay in the UK to plan terrorism or murder DC Stephen Oake.
Since the government is now fully aware of the terrorist threat, besides reforming ID card laws and adding some immigration enforcement, perhaps they should also stop taking away everyone's guns and pocket knives.
In 1974 there was a large scale IRA bombing campaign against mainland Britain and a proposal was made to introduce ID cards. However, the government of the time rejected this idea. That was because there was no evidence that ID cards would make it any easier to stop the bombers. In fact, Home Secretary Roy Jenkins wrote at the time: ‘Nor do I see advantage in a system of identity cards, which apart from creating difficulties for ordinary people would be extremely expensive and largely ineffective.’
Even if al Qaeda uses British citizens to do a terrorist attack against Britain, they would have the common sense to use people who don’t already have criminal or terrorist records and so are unlikely to arouse suspicion. ID cards wouldn’t help since they do not identify their owner’s intentions.
Al Qaeda would find it easiest to send terrorists to Britain posing as tourists, because most tourists from outside the EU come in on 3 month maximum stay visas which do not require them to submit to serious background checks or biometric testing.
Ping!
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