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by vansteen 4807 days ago
"Afaik, most every democracy that had a serious terrorist problem over years threw out the law book -- UK, Germany, Israel, Spain, USA, etc." ...

Can you precise?

I can talk about something I know. I'm french. France got problem with islamic terrorism in the 90's. France is having problem with terrorism for the last 10 years. France has done two wars in the last 3 years (Lybia, Mali and still do stuff in Afganistan). My country is not the best country in the world but we did not end up with some terrible thing like Guantanamo ... I would say the same about many others european countries and it should be the same for USA. If you believe in human rights and dignity, what ever enemy you have to fight, you should not forget the values you are fighting for.
3 comments
riggins 4807 days ago
"I'm french.... My country is not the best country in the world but we did not end up with some terrible thing like Guantanamo"

Let me preface this by saying I'm a big fan of France. In fact, I think France was a good ally recommending caution with Iraq (precisely because they had the most recent experience with fighting a counter-insurgency in an Arab country).

But I take exception with your claim that France didn't end up with Gitmo.

Read 'A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962'. France pretty much invented torturing arab terrorists.

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vansteen 4806 days ago
You are totally right. In the 20th century, France committed ugly things as well. In my previous post, I was talking about the recent period but Algeria is a good example what should be avoid. It's still a sensitive topic here, even 50 years after. I think it makes lose credibility and damage the soul of a country when this kind of episode happen. It's what our countries should avoid.
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rmc 4807 days ago
Can you precise?

Look at the UK & Northern Ireland.

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berntb 4807 days ago
To these examples, afaik you can add Italy, Spain and Germany.

For UK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevention_of_Terrorism_Acts

Edit: This is about RAF in Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction#Trial_manipula... (But certainly, maybe the lawyers were guilty, etc.)

Edit: This is about ETA in Spain (not so strong, but still) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA#Human_rights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Spain#Basque_se...

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