National Safety

People don't get excited about anything that infringes on their civil liberties. I understand that. Generally when you give the government something, it doesn't give it back regardless of the conditions in which the concessions were made.

And there always seems to be some threat to the world. In my youth, it was communism. Now it is the Islamic movement. But when we are in the throws of the battle trying to keep citizens safe and sound, it seems prudent that laws designed to keep us safe be interpreted liberally to allow governments as much flexibility as possible.

Last week I blogged about Diplomatic Assurances and several cases in Britain where courts determined that the British government did not have the authority to deport several Libyans because of the threat to their safety that their home countries posed. This despite that the British government had determined the Libyans were a security threat to Britain (which is saying something if you follow what a number of the British Mullahs are preaching these days).

Here is a recent case in Belgium.

A judge on Saturday released 14 men who had been accused of plotting to break a suspected supporter of Al Qaeda out of prison here, saying there was too little evidence to hold them.

Prosecutors said the investigation would continue, as would heightened security measures imposed across the country after the men were detained in raids on Friday. “We think there is still a threat,” said Lieve Pellens, spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor’s office.

The government had said it had information that the suspects were plotting to use explosives and other weapons to free Nizar Trabelsi, 37, a Tunisian serving 10 years for planning to a drive a car bomb into the cafeteria of a Belgian air base where about 100 American military personnel were stationed.

But Ms. Pellens said Saturday that a search of the suspects’ homes had uncovered no explosives, weapons or other evidence to warrant charges or keep them in jail.

Perhaps the judge made the right call. I doubt it. If something happens and these find gentlemen manage to take any Belgian lives, it will be interesting to see what the public reaction is.

How often do we have to listen to the American public complain about that actions that weren't taken by Immigration and various law enforcement agencies against a number of the 19 terrorists responsible for 9/11? They had overstayed their visas or they had minor legal violations or they were taking flight lessons but didn't care to learn how to land the plane . . . We had opportunities to get rid of them that could have resulted in 3,000 lives saved. I think that's worth some heavy handedness.