London
International law hampers countries in their efforts to prevent terrorism, British Defense Secretary John Reid said this week. Marking a shift in British policy, Reid called for a re-evaluation of the Geneva Conventions, which guarantee rights to prisoners of war. “We now have to cope with a deliberate regression toward barbaric terrorism by our opponents,” he said. “The legal constraints upon us have to be set against an enemy that adheres to no constraints whatsoever.” Human-rights groups were outraged. “The basic principles of not torturing people or keeping them in detention indefinitely should not be changed,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
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