Cat and Mouse game !

Many people are bemused at the outcome of last weeks dramatic swoop on Sydney Jihadists said to be plotting a beheading in the heart of the city.   Police and the Security services were quite open about the number of homes raided and the suburbs involved - and the number of arrests made.   Days later all have been released without charge - except one man.

In recent times we have had law changes that allow suspects to be held for varying lengths of time without charges being laid.  This runs contrary to the expectation that a person arrested will be promptly put before a bail court and supplied with legal representation to prepare a defence.  It seems that there is a vast chasm between criminal law - and what is essentially heading towards an undeclared act of warfare by soldiers who decline to wear uniforms.

Our Security people claim that the immediacy of the threat forced them to take premature action and no doubt the element of surprise may have breached the Jihadist's security.  An unexpected raid before dawn on multiple suspects could be expected to deliver a trove of information that allows investigators to "join the dots " and make  "connections "  that will now be vigorously followed up.

There is a very good reason for not laying charges.   Australian law allows a charged person to secure the services of a legal representative of their choice and to hold confidential interviews with that person.  The prosecution is also required to provide the defence with a brief of the evidence that will be presented in court, hence in the matters of Jihad - valuable security information forewarns the Jihadists of how they have been penetrated and allows them to take remedial action.

By not laying charges, our Security people have left the Jihadists guessing.  They must be wondering if any of those raided have been careless with security. Many of their leaders are already in the prison system and much of the planning is being done behind bars and directed by way of smuggled mobile phones and the usual network of rewards for "favours ". The Americans sealed off captured terrorists behind the walls of their prison at Guantanamo Bay and severed all connections with the outside world.   That is not an option available here in Australia.

Legal representation appears to be the Achilles heel  of thwarting a terrorist network.  Not only may lawyers be sympathetic to their client's aims, the evidence explained in the prosecutions brief to the defence will probably be handled by numerous researchers, paralegals and typists in the course of constructing a defence argument - and thus security can not be guaranteed.

There is a danger that the legal system's rigid checks and balances may be rejected by some elements frustrated with their impediment to successfully containing what is seen as a subversive war.  In many parts of the world - and Argentina, Peru. Columbia and Mexico come to mind  - law and order was replaced with a "dirty war " mentality that resulted in "disappearances " and the installation of a "police state ".

Unfortunately, when religion is the crux of the dispute, all forms of moderation seem to fall by the wayside !