Originally published October 15 2005
British bombing creates backlash that threatens civil liberties
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Taking the same path as the U.S., British officials have proposed a series of measures the increase the power of government, while decreasing the scope of free speech and abridging the right to a jury trial.
It was here that the absolute power of the monarch was first curtailed and the rights of the individual were first enshrined, here that trial by jury was first guaranteed.
As modern-day Britain faces the threat of terrorism, the rights of the individual, born in this meadow in 1215, are being diminished.
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, and with greater urgency since this summer's deadly bombings of the London transit system, British officials have put forward a series of proposals that increase the power of government, narrow protected speech and, in some cases, abridge the rights of individuals to jury trials.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke, Britain's man in charge of policing, public safety and anti-terrorism measures, said this month that Europeans will have to accept that civil liberties must now be traded for protection from terrorists.
If the European Convention on Human Rights --- a document descended from the Magna Carta --- gets in the way, Clarke said, it will have to be changed.
Similarly, the head of MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service, warned that civil liberties might have to be eroded to keep citizens safe.
"The world has changed and there needs to be a debate on whether some erosion of what we all value may be necessary to improve the chances of our citizens not being blown apart as they go about their daily lives," said Eliza Manningham-Buller.
"Liberty is very concerned that at the moment there is this false debate about balancing rights and security," said Doug Jewell, a spokesman for the group.
The reason, he said, is that the government doesn't have the evidence to gain convictions.
Control orders are, however, less severe than what the British government first implemented after the 2001 attacks in the United States.
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