McG, introducing Tony Bliar into this discussion is a red herring (for which you have some notoriety - remember your totally spurious 'cup of coffee' nonsense which you dragged in to a discussion about illegal drugs some time ago?). It's not about Tony Blair (who, as far as I'm aware, and unless you have verifiable information which I don't have, is not a disaffected young Muslim man, is not a drug addict (unless, according to your definitions of 'drug addiction', he's a regular coffee drinker), and has not been to Pakistan to attend a terrorist traing camp), it's about Binyam Mohammed, who (allegedly) is, and has done, all of the above.

I don't "believe that the principle of "innocent until proved guilty" should be jettisoned". I do believe, however, that the rights of totally innocent people going about their normal, legal, everyday business in a civilised world takes absolute priority over the rights of those whose interest is in causing them harm. In that respect, I do believe that it's prudent to treat anyone, irrespective of race or creed, with extreme suspicion if they behave in a way that suggests they are interested in harming totally innocent people going about their normal, legal, everyday business in a civilised world, and that may include preventive detention. However I believe also that any process of this nature should be subject to rigorous legal controls - out of the hands of politicians - unlike the way that the detention of terrorist suspects at Gitmo has been conducted (allegedly).

I'm done and outta here.