The European Union’s first counter-terrorism coordinator vowed to defend civil liberties in the battle against militants as he took up his job Monday.
| You're a terrorism czar, dumbass. You're not the civil liberties czar. |
Former Dutch deputy interior minister Gijs de Vries, who has both Dutch and U.S. citizenship, said restricting freedom in the name of combating terrorism would be a victory for extremists.
No need to restrict freedom, Gijs, just scrutinize and jail Islamists the people most likely to commit terrorist acts.
"I believe we have to be careful not to fall into the trap set by the terrorists," he told France-Inter radio.
| I think the exact translation from the Dutch was: "We have to be careful to take no decisive actions. Somebody might sue us." |
"Terrorists would like Europe to react by reducing our attachment to public freedoms and tolerance. However, we must absolutely preserve the open character of our society," he said in impeccable French.
| "Even if they kill us all... Well, maybe not all. Not me, certainly. Or... ummm... you, I guess." |
De Vries & Captain Hairdo Senator Kerry - two peas in a pod.
Civil rights campaigners have accused the United States, and to a lesser extent the European Union, of sacrificing public liberties in the name of fighting terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Um, any specific examples? Didn’t think so.
| New York City's smoking laws? Tougher penalties for mattress tag removal? |
De Vries’ role has been variously described in European media as a laughingstock "Mr. Terrorism" or "anti-terror czar," but he will have no operational control and his powers are next to nonexistent far more modest than such titles might suggest.
Scold the terrorists, works every time!
| Now, now. Don't speak sternly to them. It only makes them seethe. |
Appointed by EU leaders last week, De Vries has a tightly limited role to coordinate the work of different EU bodies in the fight against terrorism, promote cooperation between Brussels and member states, and monitor national implementation of agreed anti-terror measures.
Which conforms what we’ve suspected since last week - this is a sham position and nothing effective will be done by the EeeeUwww in actually fighting terrorism, although I’m sure the position pays well.
| But notice the job description says not a word about human rights. I'm all for human rights, myself, but I'm not paid to be concerned about them. |
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker has criticized the mandate as too narrow.
Egads! Frenchmen all around me! Zut Allours! (hey - how’re you Frenchies gonna do in the Tour de France this year?)
De Vries will report to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. His mandate makes no mention of coordinating intelligence sharing among member states, which critics say is a key shortcoming in the EU’s anti-terrorism armory.
Among all the other shortcomings...
New York-born De Vries, 48, is an ardent European federalist (surprise!) who represented the Dutch government in the Convention which drew up a draft EU constitution due to be finalized by EU leaders in June. A professional politician former leader of the Liberal Democrat group in the European Parliament, the trained political scientist is a member of the center-right VVD liberal party.
Keep plenty of white hankies kicking around, EeeeUwww, you’ll need them sooner or later.
| Golly. He's a trained political scientist. |
| Better. He's a European-trained political scientist. |
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