War on terror - a 'smokescreen' for invading countries

By FRAN O'SULLIVAN

The term "war on terror" has become an all-embracing cliche in the heat of a US election campaign, but high-powered international lawyers do not want a bar of it.

They want to see the law used more to smoke out and prosecute terrorists, and to guard against inciting religious hatred.

Australian QC Nicholas Cowdery - in Auckland for the International Bar Association's (IBA) conference - questions whether you can in fact "declare war against an abstract noun".

Mr Cowdery's essential theme is that the slogan has become "simply a smokescreen" behind which powerful countries such as the US can invade others. It found considerable favour during a nuggety session.

Fighting terrorism through the use of the law is a major part of Mr Cowdery's brief as New South Wales director of public prosecutions.

Mr Cowdery - who chaired the IBA session "Law or War" - has had plenty to play with since Australian Prime Minister John Howard helped President George W. Bush by sending troops to Iraq.

He has not been afraid to speak his mind about the detention of Australian prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. As president of the International Association of Prosecutors, he has a ready platform to openly question why Australia has followed the US lead.

UK Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald is upfront in saying his biggest challenge is terrorism and maintaining public confidence.

The British Home Office is finalising a raft of new measures to combat terrorism. Among them are reduced jail sentences or offers of immunity from prosecution for those who share information about their networks.

"I think the terrorist threat is serious. I think we need to take steps to protect ourselves against it."

Other measures which could be introduced include making evidence obtained by phone-tapping admissable in court.

A ban on using language that might inspire religious hatred is also likely. "The Government is proposing to include within the law an offence of incitement to religious hatred - that's quite controversial," said Mr Macdonald.

"People think a religion is a belief system, then you should be allowed to be as offensive as you like about it. That's the free speech argument.

"Whereas your racial identity is not a belief system, it's about who you are and having that attacked is about an attack on you as a person."

Mr Macdonald says "given tension around world events" Muslim groups need protection.

"The Government's going to introduce it and if they introduce it we'll prosecute it."

Mr Macdonald faced a political row when he was appointed director last year. Tory politicians accused the Government of "rampant cronyism" because Mr Macdonald came from the same law firm as Cherie Blair, the Prime Minister's wife.

Yesterday, Mr Macdonald said charges of cronyism had quickly melted away. "It's journalism, isn't it."

His appointment had also been questioned because he did not spring from the ranks of prosecutors, but was a top criminal defence counsel.