[Guest post by DRJ]

Buried in the same UK Times Online article that I posted about here is a positive analysis by Justice, a British human rights group, of the way the US wages the war on terror and the importance of FBI phone tap evidence:

“Swift Justice

Gordon Brown’s plans to double the detention period for terror suspects face further opposition with a report showing that America needs just 48 hours to file charges in Al-Qaeda cases.

The report by Justice, the human rights group, will say this week that Brown’s plans to extend precharge detention to 56 days are untenable. It says: “No western democracy faces a greater threat of terrorism than the US. Despite this, the proven ability of US law enforcement to charge suspects in complex terror plots within 48 hours of arrest without resort to exceptional measures shows that UK proposals to extend precharge detention are both unjustified and unnecessary.”

The report emphasises the importance of FBI phone tap evidence and Brown is considering whether such intercept evidence should be allowed in Britain.

Eric Metcalfe, the Justice report’s author, said: “From Guantanamo Bay to rendition to torture, the US has done a lot of things badly wrong in the fight against terrorism. “But in the rush to extend precharge detention here in the UK, we sometimes overlook what they are doing right.”

I take that as a compliment. A very, very British compliment but a compliment nonetheless.

— DRJ