Blair unveils anti-terrorism plan

LONDON -- With his nation shaken by last month's bombings, British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday announced tough new anti- terrorism measures that include shutting down radical mosques and deporting Islamic clerics who preach violence and hate.

The plan is aimed at isolating religious extremists while giving wider powers to British counterterrorism forces in a country increasingly unnerved by militants. The proposals are an indication that the recent attacks on London's transit system, which killed 52 people on July 7, have forced the government to re-examine the line between civil rights and national security.

"Let no one be in any doubt, the rules of the game are changing," Blair said during a 90-minute news conference.

The measures, in many ways, run counter to Britons' long-held view of their nation as one of the most open multicultural societies in the world. Fear of global terrorism and rhetoric about jihad and radicalism by fringe Islamic organizations in Britain appear to have provided a political mandate for changes that only a few years ago would have been nearly impossible.

The prime minister's 12-point objective is to rid the country of foreign Islamic militants and crush extremist voices that remain. Blair said his government is working on agreements with other nations to guarantee that people Britain would return to the Middle East and Africa would not be tortured or abused. But emphasizing his determination for tougher anti-terror regulations, Blair said he would seek to amend human rights legislation if the courts don't support his proposals for deportation and banning certain political parties.

Human rights groups and liberal members of Blair's Labour Party immediately criticized the measures, which also call for making it a crime to "glorify" terrorism and cracking down on Web sites and bookshops peddling militant writings. Opponents said the plan would violate free speech and other civil rights.

"We don't win by mimicking the profound authoritarianism of those who are plotting against this country," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group, Liberty. "I think it is very worrying that the prime minister has jeopardized our national unity today both in terms of community relations and in terms of consensus politics."

Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said Blair's sweeping plan, much of which needs parliamentary approval, risks "inflaming tensions and alienating people."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said he supported tougher laws but added that Blair's plan "is so vague that 20 years ago it would have meant banning Nelson Mandela or anyone supporting him." Conservatives largely embraced the proposals as a crucial shift in tenor over what they have viewed as a government too lenient on immigrants and foreign agitators. The plan is forcing Britain, much like the United States did after the Sept. 11 attacks, to reflect on how far to push police powers. The measures do not appear as sweeping as some imposed by the Bush administration, but they certainly move Britain in a conservative direction regarding civil liberties.

This nation has long prided itself on multiculturalism, but following the July 7 and July 21 attacks, Blair's plan seemed have found resonance, although it is expected to be debated rigorously in Parliament by liberal politicians who unsuccessfully battled anti- terrorist legislation in 2002.

"Coming to Britain is not a right," said Blair. "And even when people have come here, staying here carries with it a duty. That duty is to share and support the values that sustain the British way of life. Those that break that duty and try to incite hatred or engage in violence against our country and its people have no place here."

Britain and Europe have long been frustrated by religious clerics coming from the Middle East to preach hatred of the West from neighborhood mosques. Imams such as Egyptian-born Abu Hamza Masri, who lives in Britain but faces possible extradition to the United States on suspicion of terrorism, have been blamed for inciting young, frustrated Muslim men.

The suspects in the July 21 attempted bombing are believed to be British citizens of Muslim African descent who might have been radicalized by foreign elements.

Blair called for banning of the British offices of Hizb ut Tahrir, which has called for Europe to be ruled by Islamic law.

"There will be serious repercussions in terms of community relations if this ban goes ahead," said Imran Waheed, a spokesman for Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain. "Our members are all for political expression, not for violence."

The plan was announced as the prime minister was battling critics over foreign policy, especially the war in Iraq, which most Britons opposed. Islamic radicals, including al-Qaida lieutenant Ayman Zawahri in a video aired Thursday, have said terrorist attacks on Britain would continue because of Blair's support for U.S. efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

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