STOP THE WAR! Terrorism should be fought by courts and police, not by the armies! For example, like this:

In a ruling seen as a sharp blow to coordinated counterterrorism efforts in Europe, Germany's highest court today refused to turn over a terrorist suspect to Spain, arguing that a recent European agreement to streamline extradition procedures violated the rights of German citizens.

The case involved Mamoun Darkazanli, a 46-year-old German of Syrian origin suspected in Spain and by independent experts on terrorism of having provided logistical and financial support to Al Qaeda.

Mr. Darkazanli, who runs a trading company in Germany, is pictured in a videotape at a wedding in Hamburg in 1999 also attended by two of the hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Judge Baltazar Garzón of Spain, using the new European procedure, issued a European warrant against Mr. Darkazanli last year, accusing him of being the "permanent interlocutor and assistant" in Europe for the Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden.

But the German Constitutional Court today declared the law creating the European warrant void, even though it was ratified by the German Parliament last November. The court reasoned that the law infringed on every German citizen's right, enshrined in this country's Basic Law, to a hearing in a German court before extradition can take place.

The ruling will surely be seen as a setback in a Europe still reeling from the terrorist attacks in London this month and where closer coordination to prevent terrorism is at the top of the public agenda.

Thank you, Germany.

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