Told you so

Looks like the grandiose UK ID card scheme which would be used to 'fight terrorism' has crunched into the rocks of reality. Then again, I've been one of the myriad voices pointing out the inconvenient fact that all the most notorious terror bombings Like 9/11, Madrid, 7/7 etc, have all been performed by terrorists with valid, government issued ID cards. That and the other inconvenient fact that such a project would provide the mother lode of all sources for potential ID thieves, terrorists included.

As an immigrant myself, I appreciate the need for controls on people entering and leaving a country, especially in these economically straitened times. There should be an unstated requirement that no country should import poverty in a time of overburdened public purse strings, regardless of 'human rights'. If you can support yourself, all well and good, but if not, sorry; Full. This is never more true than now, what with the world economy still contracting. It should be a given that non natives indulging in terrorist activity against a host country and / or it's citizens should get the perpetrator instant deportation after a lengthy prison sentence, and the permanent stripping of any residency, work or citizenship rights. If not, why not? Human rights pleas are all very well, but those who harm others should not be afforded such privileges. Human rights legislation should be there for the weak and powerless, not as a catch all 'get out of jail free' excuse for every nasty scrote out there.

There is a saying by George Santayana that "those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Yet those who hold the reins of power seem to often disregard this axiom. Even Karl Marx acknowledged that "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." The repeated failure of Socialist doctrine being a case in point, so he was right about one thing at least. However, to fight terrorism effectively, which is what the cards were supposed to do but couldn't, you have to strike at the root cause. There are acknowledged strategies to successfully fight asymmetric wars ('Terrorist' tactics like Hit and run guerilla tactics, suicide bombings) in which ID cards do not figure strongly. Said tactics derive from the writings of Sun Tzu and latterly John Boyd, who had some interesting things to say about it. Personally, I'm quite relaxed about terrorists about to commit mayhem being 'offed' before they have a chance to do so (A.K.A 'Doing a Gibraltar'). Or if you want the Monty Python version Llap-Goch.

Now the parlous state of the UK economy has dictated that a lot of these grand projects will have to be dumped because the government has run out of taxpayers money. Ahem. Told you so... (snigger).

Update: They're going to ditch the cards, but the odious database is to be kept as an ongoing project. When the next tranche of money runs out, that will have to go, too.