Oh, I'm not "right". But I think Quiggin's argument has plenty of merit.

Fits better with my perception of why new arrest laws, rationalisations of torture and rendition, military courts, prisons on foreign sites, and surveillance and border control laws were implemented in the first place in various countries.

The minimum pretext for acquiring a novel power is usually far greater than that required to maintain the status quo. Fixing civil liberties simply won't be on the agenda until the media cycle throws up a cause célèbre.