Tuesday

Likely

You know how much I love stupid things. In this case, I just love criminal offenses which are vague enough that about anyone could be charged with them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8667761.stm

I'm not pro-terrorism. I don't like people who kill other people for any reason, really. So I'm not really saying that the people in question are guilty or innocent or anything else. I'm just agog at the crime with which one of them was charged.

Ilyas Iqbal was jailed for 18 months for possessing a document likely to be useful to a terrorist.

Okay. I possess a document which might be useful to a terrorist. Not even "might." It's likely to be useful to a terrorist. It's called the phone book. I understand that it contains contact information for people who sell various items a terrorist might find very useful indeed. I know I'm not in England, but I'd venture a guess that, even if you can't find gun dealers in the phone book in Ol' Blighty (and I don't know, maybe you can) you can find various other contact information of interest, if not likely to be useful.

In the age of terrorism, we've gotten so scared of things that we accuse people of having documents "likely to be useful." Not even, "documents which were proven to be used in the commission of a terrorist act." That's problematic too, but we're not even going to be that hardcore. Terrorist paraphernalia this ain't. This is like the DEA arresting me because I own plant food, which I might use to grow cannabis. Of course, they could also arrest me for owning plant food because it contains fertilizer, which would likely be useful to make a bomb.

Yes sir, we're sure scared of terrorism. I bet terrorists find that useful. It's likely, anyway.

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