Are we fighting terrorism or are we creating terror?

We are "fighting terrorism" but who is getting scared?
Up to March 2004 there had been 561 arrests in the UK under the Terrorism Act (1). Out of these only 6 led to convictions (1). If that would not be enough we have been warned that the "war on terror" could last up to 50 years (2), who is served by these alarmist affirmations? Us or the terrorists?
What's more, people in the UK are to receive a booklet on how to cope with a terror attack (3), now one should ask: Are all these actions for the reason that the government takes the threat of terrorism seriously? Or are there other reasons?
The fact is that people's rights have been trampled on, without any respect for the civil rights that should be afforded to citizens in the UK. Changes to the legal system are required to put a sock on the alarmist mouths - which include the government, by the way (4).
In the US the issue has even gone further. The names of the people arrested can be kept secret, which a dissenting judge called an "abuse [of] one of [the state's] most awesome powers, the power to arrest and jail(...)" (5). In a report released earlier this month the Justice Department's inspector general found there had been "significant problems" in the way the US authorities had handled the round-up of suspects - mostly those of Pakistani origin - in the wake of the 11 September attacks. (5)
It starts to be clear that the British government as well as others are using a "dragnet" strategy which goal is more to scare than to have real results against terrorism(6) (out of the 561 arrests until March 2004 only 5 led to any conviction until April 2004(1)).
How does this affect us? Some people in credible media outlets (LA Times) are suggesting that this could have a significant impact on our health, mentally and otherwise (7).

Addendum:
That the US is better than the UK should come as no surprise, but that it is 10 times better is perhaps something that people would be expecting. Now we have the proof, as the US has actually imprisioned 5000 (yes five-thousand!) people under the "war on terrorism banner"! (8)


(1) "Hundreds arrested, handful convicted"
(2) The war on terror could last up to 50 years, a senior UK intelligence officer has warned.
(3) An instruction booklet on how to cope in a terror attack could be sent to every home in Britain in a plan being considered by the government.
(4) "We need to have a better system - someone else, perhaps the courts themselves, stopping this outrageous use of rumours, innuendos and links - which may lead to miscarriages of justice and innocent people going to prison."
(5) The names of hundreds of people detained since the 11 September attacks can be kept secret, a US federal appeals court has ruled.
(6) Defence lawyers claim that the authorities are operating a 'dragnet' policy with many charges based on slender evidence.
(7) Politicians of both parties who use fear to manipulate our votes contribute to the very harm from which they say they are trying to protect us.
(8) Until that reversal, the Detroit case had marked the only terrorist conviction obtained from the Justice Department's detention of more than 5,000 foreign nationals in anti-terrorism sweeps since 9/11.