Rubber band chains

A seventh al-Qaeda suspect in Britain subjected to "control orders" -- a form of house arrest, electronic and restrictions on Internet use on persons who cannot be legally prosecuted -- has absconded. The suspect's picture has not been released on instructions of the police. "That should make him even harder to find," says Prairie Pundit.

The important thing about "control orders" is that they apply to people who cannot successfully be charged in court. These replaced powers under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime & Security Act 2001 (ATCSA) allowing the imprisonment of foreign terror suspects without trial. The BBC describes "control orders" thus:

Under the new orders, people suspected of terrorism could be subject to house arrest or other restrictions on movement, such as electronic tagging or curfews. Association and communication with specified people could be restricted, as could telephone and internet use. While the orders would mean an end to detention of suspects, breach of a control order could lead to imprisonment.

One wag once remarked that "the dark night of fascism is forever descending on America but always lands on Europe". In a war remarkable for the degree of political correctness under which it is fought, the US lags a distant second to Europe in the application of draconian state power. But even the potent European states may be unequal to the task, highlighting the most terrible contradiction in the War on Terror: that efforts to preserve liberties may eventually lead to their gradual and perhaps irrevocable loss. If Britain is struck hard in the future by those who have escaped its "control orders" what may come in its stead?

Nothing follows.