Civil liberties...

I've been meaning to post on this for a few days, but this post from Derick Rethans finally reminded me about it when I had a few free minutes.

Look for intensified Patriot 2 efforts in the US. Watch the EU and/or individual countries in Europe to start strengthening their position. Now governments have a "see, this is a war" excuse to remove our rights for the purpose of safety.

Dubya claims that the world is a safer place... Prove it to us. Let the Patriot Act expire. If the world is so much safer, there's no need for the government to have such broad power.

Now on to the conspiracy theorist in me... Wasn't Tony Blair's responses rather lackadaisical? It seemed to me that this was something he already knew was going to happen. I'm not saying he put everything in place to make it happen or allowed it to happen, but if there was a vague threat that something was coming down but they couldn't pin-point it, might he have opted for silence instead of inciting public panic with "possibilities"? If he had, it might have thwarted the effort at which time the government would have lost credibility. It's a catch-22...

But... if they err on the side of an attack, it renews popularity and gives them free reign again to reign in our liberties. Collateral damage isn't limited to "over there" any more.