There are over a billion Muslims around the world. What's the most populous Muslim country? Indonesia. The Mindinao (sp) region of the Philippines is Muslim and they don't look like Arabs. Plus, as seen in the London bombings, many Muslims are black. I don't know about you, but I can't tell the difference at a casual glance between a Somali and a black Southern Baptist (other than the fact that most Africans are darker skinned). Look at Bosnia and you'll see white Muslims. Remember Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber?" Simply put, there are Muslims in every racial group on Earth, so profiling on appearance won't work.

Profiling on behavior might work, but as seen in London last week, it's far from foolproof. Someone leaving a suspect location, wearing a heavy coat in the summer, and fleeing from police are all suspect behavior and resulted in a man being shot to death. Unfortunately, he was innocent. Still, under the circumstances I can understand and support the police's actions as does that famous right-wing radical, Ed Koch.

Why did what appears to be an execution take place and is now defended by the London Metropolitan police? Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, accused by some in Britain of being supportive of the aims of terrorists, elsewhere in the world, defined as seeking to achieve their political goals through tactics which include the deliberate killing of innocent civilians. Red Ken, which is how he is known in Britain, apparently sees such people on occasion as militants or freedom fighters, in effect excusing their tactics, if the terror is visited on Israeli civilians including children, women and men.

Livingstone, faced with continuing terror tactics against the city he leads, explained the new British police policy that now includes shoot-to-kill orders in some circumstances, is quoted in The Times as saying, “If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them. And therefore overwhelmingly in these circumstances, it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy.” The Times further reports, “Police guidelines for dealing with suspected suicide bombers recommend shooting at the head rather than the body in case the suspect is carrying explosives.”

That policy makes common sense to me.