A serious defeat for the West

WELCOME as they are, the return of the last British prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, and the unravelling of the policy of holding terror suspects without trial at Belmarsh jail, represent a serious defeat for the West's war on terror.

This is not because the releases create a real threat to UK security: with the possible exception of a small minority at Belmarsh, there is little credible evidence any were ever actively involved with terror. But the damage done by Belmarsh and Guantanamo to the values Britain and America espouse has been a victory for the terrorists. And the detentions served to further radicalise young Muslims, here and abroad.

It is no coincidence Iraq hostages like Ken Bigley were videotaped in Guantanamo-style orange clothes.

Underlying all the detentions was a fallacy: that in the new struggle against murderous Islamism, ideas central to the rule of law such as due process and habeas corpus are a dangerous luxury.

Yet whenever democracies have removed these constraints the results have been shameful and self-defeating. Normally politicians have foreseen the downside and resisted the pressure to do so. But in the wake of 9/11, both the Bush administration and New Labour embraced it with gusto.

The 2001Terrorism Act, the progenitor of Belmarsh, joined a dishonourable list of bad legislation rushed through Parliament in time of crisis. The wearying truth is that measures such as the 2001Terrorism Act, and camps like Guantanamo - where prisoner abuse by interrogators produces fantastical false confessions - are not only wrong but ineffective. Due process is actually the best weapon against terrorism we have.

Instead of combating real threats, our governments have wasted people and money chasing shadows and defending the indefensible. They should be held accountable for it.

. David Rose is author of Guantanamo: America's War on Human Rights (published by Faber).

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