I feel bad for Glenn and David, as this is what this amounts to -
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald-guardian-partner-detained-heathrow
The poignant parts in bold I emphasize below.
"Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, "fewer than 3 people in every 10,000 are
examined as they pass through UK borders" (David was not entering the UK but
only transiting through to Rio). Moreover, "most examinations, over 97%, last
under an hour." An appendix to that document states that only .06% of all people
detained are kept for more than 6 hours.
The stated purpose of this law, as the name suggests, is to question people
about terrorism. The detention power, claims the UK government, is used
"to determine whether that person is or has been involved in the commission,
preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism."
But they obviously had zero suspicion that David was associated with a
terrorist organization or involved in any terrorist plot. Instead, they spent
their time interrogating him about the NSA reporting which Laura Poitras, the
Guardian and I are doing, as well the content of the electronic products he was
carrying. They completely abused their own terrorism law for reasons having
nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism: a potent reminder of how often
governments lie when they claim that they need powers to stop "the terrorists",
and how dangerous it is to vest unchecked power with political officials in its
name."
Read Glenn report about David's ordeal here - http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/18/david-miranda-detained-uk-nsa
They are worse however than the Mafia - in that the UK and US Governments operate under the pretense of democracy.
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