Hysteria

The BBC reports that the man shot yesterday by British police was not connected to the London bombing (hat tip Pam):

A man shot dead by police hunting the bombers behind Thursday's London attacks was unconnected to the incidents, police have confirmed.

A Scotland Yard statement said the shooting was a "tragedy" which was regretted by the Metropolitan Police.

[…]

"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."

When I heard about this on the radio yesterday morning, my first thought—I’m not sure why—was that it was a mistake. And indeed it turns out to have been one, a very tragic mistake indeed.

We’ve got to figure out a better way to combat terrorism—a realistic way that genuinely addresses the problem—because when innocent people are shot in public, prisoners are mistreated in an attempt to extract information from them (even if they were sold into capture and there’s no evidence, other than the words of those paid to turn them in, that they are viable suspects), and the general public subjected to an encroachment of civil liberties, I just can’t see how that differs from exactly what the terrorists want, which is for us to be terrorized and live our lives in fear.