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The case of the "al Qaeda ricin poisoner" is interesting in two ways. First off, the intelligence gathering, evidence, arrests, and so forth were carried out without any need for ID cards, detention without charge, or any of the other "necessary measures" currently eroding our civil liberties.

Secondly, the difference between the right-wing rhetoric and the truth is substantial. For instance, today's Times still talks about an "al Qaeda terrorist". In the past we've been told about Ricin gangs, international terrorist networks, and so forth.

In contrast, the jury acquitted four of the five defendants - so much for the gang. And Duncan Campbell, writing in today's Guardian is even more interesting. This expert witness who investigated the origin of the ricin recipe recovered from Kamel Bourgass' flat reveals that there is no link to al Qaeda. Instead, the information came from right-wing, American gun-nuts.

The truth appears to be that lone, frustrated Islamist thugs planned a small terror campaign which they may not even have had the ability to pull off. For reasons of their own, right-wing organisations from the government to News International (by way of the Tory party) are puffing this into something more than it is. A dangerous man is off our streets, the police and intelligence services have done their jobs admirably well, and the danger to the public at large was, in reality, small compared to, say, car crashes. If we live in fear or lose our way of life, the terrorist wins. We need to keep that in mind, especially when those who seek to profit from our fear are our elected leaders.

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