Doing more to stop terrorists

In London, police killed a suspected suicide bomber. They shot the man in the back after seeing wires from a backpack. When I first learned of this incident, I was proud of the English for being brash enough to shoot a terrorist on the open street. Then, after it was reported the man was innocent, it made me think.

Turns out, the man did indeed have wires dangling from his backpack, but he was an electrician. Although he didn’t physically meet the search criteria from the broadcast APB, the man looked suspicious. So the police asked him to stop and the suspected man with wires dangling from his bag took off running. I ask you… if your city had just been bombed, what would you have done in this situation? I know I would have shot him, too. He took off running! If you’re innocent, you stop and clear things up.

Now, the British Muslim community is saying no Muslim is safe. First, to my knowledge, there has not been a government that has come out and said “if you are Muslim, you will be sent to jail, searched and interrogated for terrorist activity.” Both the British and U.S. governments have been very lenient to Muslims in their country, not intruding on their religious rights.

Rather than publicly questioning authorities in their respective countries, I suggest Muslims begin questioning the extremists who are giving their peaceful religion a bad name. I certainly feel for the good Muslims who simply live a peaceful life just as Allah intended, but they must be more proactive in policing the extremists. You have to believe that the good Muslims can get through to the bad guys. After all, they both believe in the Koran and it’s just the interpretation that is skewed.

As for the police, there is no easy way to spot a terrorist. At every ball game, every political event and on every subway or airport, men in uniform scan for suspicious backpacks and abandoned cars. They have a difficult job in this age of suicide bombs and Islamic extremists. And let’s not forget the English still have issues with the IRA and we have anti-government militants, like Timothy McVeigh, plotting to overthrow Congress.

There are many threats within our own countries. But how do you stop them?

Racial profiling? While I could think of dozens of reasons why profiling would be appropriate, I believe this is inappropriate for the simple reason this tactic breeds hate. Statistically, suicide bombers are of Middle Eastern descent, and without a doubt, Islamic extremists are the world’s biggest threat. But I believe that good Muslims or Arabs would turn against authorities. Maybe that’s what is happening now and is the reason why Muslims are not doing more to quell their evil counterparts.

Random searches of Muslim communities and militia compounds? This, too, could easily be favored and would probably lead to the arrests of dozens of terrorists. But again, it would also breed hate among good Muslims.

It’s not a simple fix. And I don’t know the answers. I just know that there are people in this world who could play a bigger role in squashing the problem. We should work together to rid the land of terrorists instead of blaming one another.