Passports

According to today’s New York Times, Brandon Mayfield, the American convert to Islam [I’m painfully aware that nationality has nothing to do with religion, but that’s the way it’s being reported], who was detained yesterday for involvement in the Madrid train bombings of March 11, may not in fact be involved. The relevant graf is: The law enforcement officials said they were afraid that Mr. Mayfield, who is originally from Kansas, might become a fugitive if he knew he was under suspicion. So monitoring that was just getting started was abruptly halted. Mr. Mayfield was arrested before investigators had fully…

Nick Kristof brings the obvious to light. I’m glad he’s doing it, because it’s only when something is in the non-blogging media is taken seriously. I just wish he’d done it sooner. It’s not only about protecting Muslims, it’s about protecting America. [update] So the killing of the judge was not the work of terrorists, just a crazy guy. However, Kristof’s article is still important; not because I don’t think the government is doing enough, the fact that they stopped some attacks says they are doing something, but that they could be doing it better. Part of that is publicizing…