Chapman: Britain expels unwelcome ideas

Steve Chapman has a column on the worrisome side of Britain's new anti-terror policies. Money quote:

If a radical Islamic leader is recruiting suicide bombers, helping them plan their crimes or inciting them to kill people, he shouldn't be deported--he should be convicted and locked up. Blair, however, wants to expel anyone who merely expresses ideas that might conceivably be dangerous.

That prohibition is a net that will catch minnows as well as sharks. It would mean anyone praising Yasser Arafat's leadership could be sent packing. So could anyone expressing the slightest sympathy for the Nicaraguan Contras, who once enjoyed the support of the Reagan administration. Ditto for Nelson Mandela, who led an armed guerrilla group before becoming a symbol of brotherhood.