“Winning the War on Terror” (7 p.m. today, CNN) looks at ways nations around the world have prepared for attacks on their civilians while trying to respect and protect civil liberties.

While many Americans, from the president on down, have characterized the war on terror as a new struggle that began on Sept. 11, 2001, other nations, including England, Israel and France, have been fighting terrorism for decades.

CNN correspondent David Ensor speaks with foreign leaders and anti-terror experts to see if these other countries’ strategies could, or should, be applied in the United States. Israel is known to target suspected terrorists for assassination. French prosecutors can detain and question suspects for up to four days without pressing charges, and suspects can be held up to 24 hours without access to legal representation. Britain has more than a half a million surveillance cameras in public places. These lenses may provide key evidence against suspects in last week’s bombing attacks, but they also remind us that London was the setting of George Orwell’s novel “1984.”

Among those interviewed for this special, Dan Meridor, former Israeli minister of justice, has given much thought to balancing security with civil liberties: “Democracy fights terrorism with one hand tied behind its back,” he says. “It’s much more difficult, but if you don’t do it this way, we lose our nature as a democracy, we lose our democratic way of life.”

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Julie Chen is host on “Big Brother 6” (7 p.m., CBS).

¢ Matthew Broderick stars in the 1998 big-budget monster movie “Godzilla” (7 p.m., NBC).

¢ Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway star in the 2001 fantasy “The Princess Diaries” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (9 p.m., CBS): a desperate housewife who stabbed her husband 193 times.

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Scheduled on “Dateline” (6 p.m., NBC): a conversation with “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling; a new haven for terrorists; a repeat report on a murder at Dartmouth College.

¢ Brad Garrrett (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) stars in “Gleason” (8 p.m., CBS), the warts-and-all biography of the “Honeymooners” creator and star.

¢ Matthew Perry is host to the 2005 ESPY Awards (8 p.m., ESPN) honoring the best in sports. Destiny’s Child is scheduled to perform.