 UK Home Secretary John Reid has recently used the term 'Fascist' to refer to individuals which he claims are threatening the state. His argument is that civil liberties should be abolished in "the short term" so that they are protected.
"And the challenge is this. What happens when the threat to our nation and hence to all of us as individuals, comes not from a fascist state but from what might be called fascist individuals. Individuals who are unconstrained by any of the international conventions, laws agreements or standards, and have therefore, unconstrained intent.
Individuals who can network courtesy of new technology and access modern chemical, biological and other means of mass destruction, and who have therefore unconstrained capability.
Individuals, who would misuse our basic rights and freedoms but, if they had their way, would want to create a society which would deny all of the basic individual rights which we now take for granted. As the Taliban have shown in practice and Al Qaeda espouse globally, the society they want would have no place for freedom of expression, thought or religion. No respect for private life or the rights of women. No compunction about unlawful killing or detention. ... Sometimes we may have to modify some our own freedoms in the short term in order to prevent their misuse by those who oppose our fundamental values and would destroy all of our freedoms" John Reid 'Security, freedom and the protection of our values' Wednesday 9 August 2006
We should recognise this for what it is. It is a repeat of Blair's lies for the invasion of Iraq applied to individuals. It's the combination of fictional evil terrorists and fantasy weapons of mass destruction applied to the UK population. Reid has just as tenuous a grasp on reality as Blair.
If we don't act now, then we will go back to what has happened before and then of course the whole thing begins again and he carries on developing these weapons and these are dangerous weapons, particularly if they fall into the hands of terrorists who we know want to use these weapons if they can get them.Tony Blair 11 March 2003, MTV debate
But this new world faces a new threat of disorder and chaos born either of brutal states like Iraq armed with weapons of mass destruction or of extreme terrorist groups. Both hate our way of life, our freedom, our democracy. My fear, deeply held, based in part on the intelligence that I see is that these threats come together and deliver catastrophe to our country and our world. Tony Blair 20 March 2003 as UK forces went into action in Iraq.
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