Are civil rights the best antiterror defense?

By Peter Ford and Lisa Abend

PARIS AND MADRID - Behind bars in two of Britain's most heavily guarded prisons sit 12 men the police say are too dangerous to set free, but whom they cannot charge with any crime for lack of evidence.

The prisoners, all North African terror suspects, may well soon earn their freedom, however, since Britain's top court has ruled that their detention is unlawful.

As the British government scrambled this week to pass new antiterror legislation that does not breach international human rights codes, in Madrid world leaders, academics, legal experts, and policemen met to discuss ways in which democracies can defend themselves against terrorism, while not compromising their ideals.

The challenge, said former Romanian Prime Minister Petre Roman, "is Solomonic: Do we fight terrorism or protect liberties?"

The answer, suggested many of the participants at the conference called to mark the first anniversary of the Madrid railway bombings, is that only by protecting liberties can terrorism be fought effectively