I wish this were a joke

UK Police told to remove their shoes when conducting a raid on a Muslim home

(hat tip: LGF)

Leaked guidelines from the Bedfordshire force say that when officers raid Muslim homes they should remove their shoes, not use dogs and not mount pre-dawn raids because at that hour people might by 'spiritually busy'.

When two July 21 terror suspects were arrested last Friday in Notting Hill, the reaction of one of them when told to strip to his underpants? 'I have rights.'

It is less than a month since Islamist terrorists murdered 52 innocent people and yet still the forces of law and order find themselves having to walk on eggshells as they confront this deadly threat.

Why? The overwhelming majority of peaceable, law-abiding Muslims are as anxious as anyone else to see the threat of terrorism expunged. After all, Muslims were among the victims of the July 7 bombings, too.

Of course, in European countries with far bigger Muslim populations than ours, there is less hand-wringing as they confront Islamist hard-liners -- witness the speed with which both France and Germany deport rabble-rousing imams.

When five British Sikhs on holiday in New York were handcuffed and detained during a terrorism scare last week, their reaction afterwards? "No hard feelings."

Isn't that the kind of stoicism we should all try to emulate in the tense days ahead when people's rights are inevitably going to get a little bruised?

Ummm, yeah. And not breaking into a dead run while toting a backpack in the London Underground... that would be a good idea, too.

When Red Fish and I rode the city buses in Chicago yesterday, I was somewhat surprised that there was not even the least bit of security measures. Well, okay, once I heard the on-board announcement say something to the effect of "if you notice anything suspicious" but it was unclear what exactly you were supposed to do if you noticed anything. "Yeah, umm, Mr. Bus Driver? The guy sitting next to me is using a lighter to ignite his shoelace..."

So what would I have done if I saw a Middle-Eastern man with a backpack and a detonator? I guess it depends. If I thought I could stop him, I probably would. I'm pretty good in spontaneous, don't-stop-to-think kinds of situations. But I don't know that for sure. I might just freeze, or pull the cord and try to get off as quickly as possible. I didn't have my cell phone with me yesterday when we were out and about, so I wouldn't have had that as an option, but if I had, I might choose to call 911 from the bus. That wouldn't have done much good, though, because it'd probably be too late by the time they were able to scramble a team.

These thoughts went through my mind as we sat on the 151 from Millennium Park to Goethe Street yesterday. I surveyed the scene inside the bus, noticing everyone and what they were doing and what bags they were carrying.

I am quite certain I would not have done this before 9/11/2001. I'm not even sure I would've done it before 7/7/2005, to be honest.