Patriot Axe Grinders

The extensive network of public surveillance cameras in England has played a direct role in allowing law enforcement to capture some of the suspects in the recent bombings, and uproot a portion of a surprisingly extensive terror network.

And they're tightening the laws about religious hate speech - which has been emanating from the mouths of radical clerics in Great Britain for the past few years.

And finally there are reports today that weeks before 7/7 British officials backed down when the U.S. tipped them off about Haroon Rashid Aswat. At that time he was under suspicion, and the Yanks wanted him arrested. Now, turns out, he's supposedly in the same terrorist cell as the bombers.

How does all of this add up? In America I know it's fashionable, in some circles, to cluck about the excesses of the Patriot Act, and the famous "slippery slope" which (we are told) leads to brownshirt brigades and paranoia. And to be truthful I've had my concerns too.

But both of our countries, Great Britain and United States, are forced to make sober compromises when it comes to freedom and security. And I'm wondering if the people who are constantly waving their arms about civil liberties don't look like they really just have a political axe to grind, and no serious solutions of their own.