CIA man: Keep OBL out there

The Times reports that AB Krongard, until recently the executive director of the CIA, has stated that the world might be better off with OBL (or Bin Hidin’ as we call him) left uncaptured, because his capture may make him a martyr or provoke a power struggle amongst those below him, leading to another wave of terrorist attacks.

The piece also hints at Bliar’s upcoming anti-terror laws which seem outright bizarre – they are more like “emergency” laws which dictatorships use, odd given that nothing has actually happened yet (has nobody pointed this out to them?):

The draft terrorism bill will propose that “acts preparatory to terrorism” become a criminal offence to catch those who provide accommodation, finance, identity papers and other support. The bill will prove controversial because it could be applied restrospectively against many of the 11 foreign terror suspects being detained in Belmarsh, south London, and Broadmoor secure hospital.

Charles Clarke, the home secretary, is also planning to announce a civil punishment for those suspected of associating with terrorist suspects, but where there is insufficient proof to press charges.

The latter, which was announced before Plonkett quit, includes a system similar to the ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order), demanding that someone “suspected of associating with terrorist suspects” not do such things as use the Internet – which sounds an awful like the banning orders of Apartheid-era South Africa, by which people were ordered not to speak to more than one person at a time outside their families, to write anything, to work in the media, or to leave a certain area.