When Tony Blair stepped aside last month, many Liberal extremists both here and in Britain, hoped he’d reverse course on “Blair’s ill-fated and needless expansion of police powers and the targeting of British Muslims, along with a clear break on the military War on Terrorism (WoT)."
That has proved NOT to be the case, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the British Parliament earlier today (Wednesday, 7/25/07) that police need more time to question suspects longer than 28 days in some complex terrorism cases.
Brown said another proposal, to allow police to question suspects after being charged, would minimize the number of exceptions to the 28-day standards.
He also announced a review into the use of wiretaps in court cases, a practice currently banned in Britain. And he proposed creation of a unified border police force combining the work of immigration, customs and visa agencies.
Brown told the House of Commons, "Our country — and all countries — have to confront a generation long challenge to defeat al-Qaida inspired terrorist violence."
One option would include using current state of emergency laws to grant police a maximum of 58 days to question suspects, Brown said.
Worse still for “peacenik prospects” was that on Monday (7/23/07) Brown refused to rule out military action in Iran!
"I firmly believe that the sanctions policy that we are pursuing will work, but I'm not one who's going forward to say that we rule out any particular form of action," Brown told a news conference, when asked if he would rule out a military strike against Iran.
The United Nations Security Council has imposed two rounds of sanctions since December on Iran for failing to halt uranium enrichment, a process which can produce fuel for power plants or material for warheads. A third sanctions resolution is being considered.
Brown said he believed the current sanctions were having an effect, but he thought there would still be a third resolution.
"There will probably be a third resolution in relation to Iran soon ... I appeal to the Iranian authorities to understand the feelings that other countries have about the development of a nuclear weapons program," he said.
French Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Denis Simonneau told an online briefing it was necessary to maintain "a message of firmness" until Iran suspended sensitive activities.
That has proved NOT to be the case, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the British Parliament earlier today (Wednesday, 7/25/07) that police need more time to question suspects longer than 28 days in some complex terrorism cases.
Brown said another proposal, to allow police to question suspects after being charged, would minimize the number of exceptions to the 28-day standards.
He also announced a review into the use of wiretaps in court cases, a practice currently banned in Britain. And he proposed creation of a unified border police force combining the work of immigration, customs and visa agencies.
Brown told the House of Commons, "Our country — and all countries — have to confront a generation long challenge to defeat al-Qaida inspired terrorist violence."
One option would include using current state of emergency laws to grant police a maximum of 58 days to question suspects, Brown said.
Worse still for “peacenik prospects” was that on Monday (7/23/07) Brown refused to rule out military action in Iran!
"I firmly believe that the sanctions policy that we are pursuing will work, but I'm not one who's going forward to say that we rule out any particular form of action," Brown told a news conference, when asked if he would rule out a military strike against Iran.
The United Nations Security Council has imposed two rounds of sanctions since December on Iran for failing to halt uranium enrichment, a process which can produce fuel for power plants or material for warheads. A third sanctions resolution is being considered.
Brown said he believed the current sanctions were having an effect, but he thought there would still be a third resolution.
"There will probably be a third resolution in relation to Iran soon ... I appeal to the Iranian authorities to understand the feelings that other countries have about the development of a nuclear weapons program," he said.
French Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Denis Simonneau told an online briefing it was necessary to maintain "a message of firmness" until Iran suspended sensitive activities.
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