Tolerating the Intolerable.(civil rights and cultural diversity in Europe seen in different light since terrorist attacks on United States)

Harun Aydin, a 29-year-old medical student from Turkey, was about to board an Iran Air flight from Frankfurt to Tehran. Suddenly, a phalanx of German police appeared and whisked him away. In his suitcase investigators found a chemical-warfare protection suit, a bottle of a mercury-type liquid used to make bomb detonators and a CD-ROM full of jihadist propaganda. Investigators say Aydin is a high-ranking member of Caliphate State, a radical Islamic group in

Cologne that calls for the destruction of Western democracy. It admits contacts to Osama bin Laden--yet is a perfectly legal organization in Germany. Indeed, Caliphate State enjoys the special status of a religious association. It's even tax-exempt.

Such coddling of criminals is far from rare in Europe. Taking advantage of liberal asylum laws that don't distinguish between religious Islam and fanatical Islamism, groups similar to Caliphate State have for years tapped into European freedoms (and social benefits) to attract support and advance their cause. They exploit tolerance to preach intolerance. They freely spread hateful propaganda, recruiting members among immigrant youth and intimidating those who oppose them. They often condemn the governments of the Muslim countries they've escaped; but they also castigate the political systems, the sexual mores and the social education of the European countries where they've settled. They may preach jihad not just abroad but at home, inciting outright violence against the very state that shelters them.

How did it come to this? Like the United States, Europe has in many ways fallen victim to its own good intentions. Taking pride in their openness and liberal compunction, especially in cases involving human rights, Europeans have bent over backward to welcome newcomers in their midst. And while the activities of the extremists among them was worrisome, public leaders often chose not to speak out--for fear of being branded racists. But all this may…