Be afraid. Be very afraid.

According to U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales, America's top law officer, the seven men arrested last week in Florida were planning to "wage a full ground war against the United States." According to the press, the story behind this terrifying threat unfolded roughly as follows:

A group of labourers and indigents hang out in an abandoned warehouse in one of Miami's seedier neighbourhoods. There they commiserate about how unfair life is and how they should maybe blow a few things up to show their displeasure. The authorities get wind of these dangerous characters and arrange for an agent to gain their confidence. The agent has them swear an oath of fealty to al-Qaeda. Odd that, because apparently there isn't a Muslim among them. The agent then helps them to set up a digital camera, rents a van and guides them around Miami to take pictures of federal buildings, including FBI headquarters. He then offers to supply them with guns and explosives. How this group of misfits is to pay for the items poses no problem because the agent also offers to provide them $50,000 in cash. Having now become a "homegrown terrorist cell," squads of heavily armed police descend and arrest them.

Some questions for Mr. Gonzales. How in God's name could sane men take seriously the plans of seven labourers and indigents to "wage a full ground war against the United States"? Why were squads of heavily armed police required to arrest them when the authorities knew they were unarmed? And, considering a government agent signed them up for "al-Qaeda," supplied them with camera and van, suggested targets, offered to provide them with guns and explosives along with the money to make the purchase, weren't the wrong men arrested? And finally, has American law enforcement lost its collective mind?