Who'dathunkit?

I never thought I would see the day that the country best known for cheese-eating surrender monkeys would point the way to reducing risk of terrorist attacks within their borders, but maybe this time France has got it right.

Last week, Reda Ameuroud, radical Muslim cleric, was shown the other side of the door by the French government. It seems this ‘imam’ (translation: terrorist rabble-rouser) was accused of efforts to enroll young Muslims as prospective jihadists, near a mosque in northern Paris, as well as having ties with Farid Benyettou, another Muslim religious leader also suspected of trying to coax youths to join militant Islamic groups, possibly including those responsible for the recent attacks in London. Even better, French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy said another 10 people perpetrating "a radical Islamist discourse" would also be shipped back to their home country by the end of August. Sarkozy previously announced France would begin systematically extraditing Muslim activists "who do not respect our values."

Striking a similar note, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said draft legislation would be introduced this fall aimed at improving video surveillance of suspected radicals, along with improving other ways to track suspected Muslim terrorists and those who would aid terrorist acts.

Meanwhile, within our own borders, the New York Civil Liberties Union announced that it is suing the city to have NYPD searches of boarding passengers’ bags in the city's subways halted. The NYCLU filed suit in Federal Court claiming that the search policy, a security measure implemented in response to the London bombings, violates the rights of riders against unlawful searches. The facts are: (1) no one has the inalienable right to ride on a subway train, and (2) the U.S. Supreme Court has found that random searches are acceptable if it fulfills “special needs” like public safety. In cases weighing the state's interest in preventing accidents caused by drunk drivers and in detecting illegal aliens, the effectiveness of checkpoints in achieving those goals, the Supreme Court found that the level of intrusion on an individual's privacy was reasonable, and not unconstitutional, and most tellingly, a 1999 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion (U.S. v. Brown) held that a roadblock set up to thwart an “imminent terrorist attack” would almost certainly be constitutional.

If there is any real flaw in the NYC subway searches, it is that they don’t go far enough. Search every boarding passenger, to some degree, and any argument regarding the discretion of the searching officer’s “randomness” goes out the window. If the search to board the subway train offends the potential passenger’s perceived “right to privacy,” he or she can always elect to walk, ride the bus, or hail a cab.

Cowboy up, America.