1. Countering terrorism and crossing legal boundaries Aniceto Masferrer and Clive Walker BACKGROUND The decennium of counter-terrorism legal responses since 9/11 provides a suitable waypoint at which to take stock. Those terrorist attacks in the United States, followed by atrocities such as the Madrid train bombings of March 2004, and the July 2005 killings in London have profoundly altered and reshaped the priorities of legal systems around the world. The ‘new’ terrorism 1 has even been perceived at times as threatening the lives of democratic nations, resulting in a declaration of ‘the war on terror’ by US President George W Bush 2 and the lodging of a notice of derogation from the right to liberty by the United Kingdom. 3 The depth of the crisis is revealed by the fact that the US war on terror persists today in law and action. The label has fallen from favour 4 and has narrowed in focus, 5 but 1 See B Lia, Globalisation and the Future of Terrorism (Routledge, 2005); P Neumann, Old and New Terrorism (Polity, 2009); IO Lesser et al., Countering the New Terrorism (RAND, 2009). 2 http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010 920-8.html, 20 September 2001 (last accessed 10 April 2013). 3 Council of Europe Secretariat, 18 December 2001; Human Rights Act 1998 (Designated Derogation) Order 2001 (SI no.3644). The notice was with- drawn for the UK from 14 March 2005: http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/ Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=005&CM=8&DF=10/04/2013&CL=ENG& VL=1 (accessed 10 April 2013). 4 The labels are now officially ‘Overseas Contingency Operation’ (http:// www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/overseas. pdf) for foreign activities or ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ (http://www.dhs.gov/ topic/countering-violent-extremism) for homeland security (both last accessed 10 April 2013). 5 It now applies solely to action against Al Qa’ida and its allies: US President, National Strategy for Counterterrorism (2011) p 8. 3 Aniceto Masferrer and Clive Walker - 9781781954478 Downloaded from Elgar Online at 08/27/2019 11:23:48AM via free access