Paddy Ashdown slams 'kneejerk' Tory response to jihadi

terror threat.
Intervention comes as Cameron prepares anti-terror message, with prime minister
criticised over 'damaging' rhetoric
The Observer, Saturday 30 August 0!"
#addy Ashdown has accused Tory ministers o$ sto%ing $ear in the minds o$ the &ritish peop'e(
Tensions between Conservatives and )ibera' *emocrats over how to counter the terrorism threat
$rom e+tremists have been e+posed as #addy Ashdown accuses Tory ministers o$ ,%nee-er%,
responses and o$ sto%ing $ear in the minds o$ the &ritish peop'e(
The $ormer )ibera' *emocrat 'eader and $ormer high representative $or &osnia and .er/egovina,
writing in the Observer, a'so criticises *avid Cameron $or i''--udged rhetoric that he says cou'd
a'ienate ordinary 0us'ims and hamper the batt'e to de$eat -ihadis(
Ashdown's intervention comes as Cameron and the deputy prime minister, 1ic% C'egg, try this
wee%end to hammer out a pac%age o$ anti-terrorism measures in time to announce them to the
.ouse o$ Commons when 0#s return $rom their summer brea% on 0onday(
On 2riday the 'eve' o$ threat o$ a terrorist attac% in the 34 was raised to ,severe, by the 5oint
Terrorism Ana'ysis Centre 65TAC7 due to $ears about &ritish -ihadis returning $rom Ira8 and Syria(
This prompted Cameron to warn that the danger posed by Is'amic State 6Isis7 e+tremists presented
the biggest security threat o$ modern times, surpassing that o$ a'-9aida(
:hi'e not attempting to deny or p'ay down the threat $rom -ihadis returning to the 34, Ashdown
says that the threat 'eve' in 1orthern Ire'and has a'so been ,severe, $or the past $our years, as it was
in a'' o$ &ritain $or much o$ the !;<0s and !;;0s when the I=A posed the greatest danger(
.e argues that the current threat is ,one we have $aced be$ore and one we %now how to dea' with >
e$$ective'y, without panic and without a who'e new range o$ e+ecutive powers which cou'd
endanger our 'iberties(
,Indeed, when it comes to $acing threats, it was sure'y $ar more di$$icu't to cope with I=A terrorists
s'ipping across the Irish Sea than it is to stop -ihadis returning $rom Ira8(,
In terms that are bound to anger many Tories, he says that a$ter the threat 'eve' was increased,
senior Conservatives ,$rom the prime minister downwards ? too% to every avai'ab'e airwave to te''
us how $rightened we shou'd be and why this re8uired a range o$ new powers $or them to e+ercise,(
:hi'e he argues that Cameron appeared, initia''y, to be aware o$ the need to avoid over-hasty
responses, Tory ministers had recent'y ,indu'ged in a spasm o$ %nee-er%ing which wou'd have made
even St @itus $ee' concerned( And )abour, $rightened as a'ways when it comes to 'iberty and
security, capitu'ates to the demand(,
On his )&C radio phone-in show 'ast wee%, C'egg, whose party prides itse'$ on standing up $or civi'
'iberties, denied that the current regime o$ so-ca''ed Tpims >Terrorist #revention and Investigation
0easures > which are the successors to contro' orders, were a so$t option and de$ended their use(
.owever, the deputy prime minister appeared to concede that $urther measures to strengthen Tpims
cou'd be necessary(
,I care as much as anyone e'se about the sa$ety o$ the &ritish pub'ic, that sometimes you need to
ta%e these unorthodo+ measures, which is what both contro' orders and terrorism prevention
investigation measures are,, he said, adding ,then there's the debate about e+act'y how you design
them,(
Ashdown ta%es aims at Cameron's c'aims that the batt'e with Isis is about de$ending &ritish or
,western va'ues,(
,.ere it is not 0r Cameron's proposa's that I $ear, it is his rhetoric( .e recent'y to'd us that this $ight
was about de$ending 'western va'ues'( I cannot thin% o$ any phrase, short o$ those used by Aeorge
&ush during the Ira8 war, which more damages our abi'ity to win this batt'e( 2or it at once con$irms
the -ihadis' 0anichean view that this is indeed a strugg'e between the west and them, whi'e at the
same time a'ienating those very Is'amic moderates, whose he'p we need most in de$eating Isis and
its cohorts(
,The truth is that this increasing'y bruta' and dangerous batt'e wi'' not be won $or our 'western
va'ues' but $or the universa' va'ues which underpin and unite a'' the wor'd's great re'igions and
phi'osophies > inc'uding, perhaps especia''y at this moment > Is'am(
,The point here, which the government is studious'y missing is that the best de$ence $or &ritain 'ies,
not in action on the domestic $ront, but on the internationa' one(
,The biggest danger we $ace, is not returning -ihadis, but a widening re'igious war which threatens,
not -ust to engu'$ the 0idd'e Bast and change its borders, but to spread across the entire g'oba'
Is'amic community with potentia' conse8uences $or peace on a much wider sca'e(,
At an B3 summit in &russe's on Saturday night Cameron was e+pected to 'aunch a $resh push $or
measures which wou'd ma%e it easier to trac% the movement o$ potentia' -ihadis( This inc'uded an
attempt to restart sta''ed p'ans which wou'd a''ow po'ice and security services across the B3 to
share air'ine passenger detai's( The p'ans have been b'oc%ed in the Buropean par'iament amid
concerns over civi' 'iberties(
The change in threat 'eve's to ,severe, means a terrorist attac% is considered ,high'y 'i%e'y,,
a'though the home secretary, Theresa 0ay, stressed there was no speci$ic inte''igence( ,The increase
in the threat 'eve' is re'ated to deve'opments in Syria and Ira8 where terrorist groups are p'anning
attac%s against the west,, 0ay said(
,Some o$ those p'ots are 'i%e'y to invo've $oreign $ighters who have trave''ed there $rom the 34
and Burope to ta%e part in those con$'icts(,