Vive la difference!

Wow. The French combine foreign policy appeasement of terrorist states with ruthless anti-terrorist measures at home. And they openly admit it, with pride. Bret Stephens, WSJ:

"Every single attempt to bomb France since 1995 has been stopped before execution," notes a former Interior Ministry senior official. "The French policy has been [to] make sure no terrorist hits at home. We know perfectly well that foreign-policy triangulation is not sufficient for that, [even if] it helps us go down a notch or two in the order of priority [jihadist] targets. So we've complemented our anti-U.S. foreign policy with ruthless domestic measures."

We know the Dems are headed down the road to appeasement, but have they thought it all through? Even the French know we are the number one terror target in the world, aside from Israel. Will the Dems follow through on the logical consequence of not fighting terror abroad?

Yup, fighting it at home. And unless the Dems want the FDNY or the CFD (that's Chicago) to be our first defenders against terror after the fact, a compromise in civil liberties may have to pick up the slack under Dem "leadership".

Are the Dems be prepared to be ruthless a la the French model? Given liberals' propensity to view their innocent neighbors with great suspicion, while granting terror suspects every benefit of the doubt, we'd all be in for a rough ride. Here are the measures the French routinely use, inherited from, ahem, Napoleonic Law:

Consider the powers granted to Mr. Bruguiere and his colleagues. Warrantless wiretaps? Not a problem under French law, as long as the Interior Ministry approves. Court-issued search warrants based on probable cause? Not needed to conduct a search. Hearsay evidence? Admissible in court. Habeas corpus? Suspects can be held and questioned by authorities for up to 96 hours without judicial supervision or the notification of third parties. Profiling? French officials commonly boast of having a "spy in every mosque." A wall of separation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies? France's domestic and foreign intelligence bureaus work hand-in-glove. Bail? Authorities can detain suspects in "investigative" detentions for up to a year. Mr. Bruguiere once held 138 suspects on terrorism-related charges. The courts eventually cleared 51 of the suspects -- some of whom had spent four years in preventive detention -- at their 1998 trial.

In the U.S., Mr. Bruguiere's activities would amount to one long and tangled violation of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution.

So maybe the Dems should support our troops over in Iraq. And get a grip at home. W is no emperor. Vive la difference!