[Pierre]

And *how* exactly *would* you "prove" that they were "a terrorist planning an attack to kill hundreds or thousands of innocent victims"?

Let's spin back in time to September 11th 2001 and note that the hijackers had to pass through airport security metal detectors etc. Now of course they could have been physically searched as well, but even if they had been found with weapons on them, what *evidence* could you have found that they were planning on hijacking planes and ramming them into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon?

The answer is almost certainly absolutely none!

The terrorists were USA internal flights which at the time did not have metal detectors etc.

Also at the time if they had knives or guns, as you rightly point out, does not necessarilly mean they might have been out to hijack the plane and use it as a missile, but we didn't know that was their motive.

We do "now" though. Therfore now you can't even get on with a pair of nail scissors.

So, please, don't make ridiculous assertions that by harassing minorities on the streets you're going to prevent another September 11th style attack or save the lives of "hundreds or thousands of innocent victims" because this is sheer nonsense.

I am not for harassing "minorities" (however I would no longer call the Islamic community a minority). But let's say that a random stop and search led to a discovery of a terrorist cell. It could happen, you can't prove otherwise.

Then as Escapee points out, we would all be glad. It may be a 1 in 1 million shot but becuase the odds are that long does that mean we shouldn't do it?