Terrorized?

I've had enough of the War on Terror. When does the War on Stupidity begin? Recently, the BBC reports, a man of Iraqi descent was not allowed to board a plane in New York, until he removed his T-shirt. The problem with the shirt? It had Arabic script on it. It also had written in English, "We will not be silent," which is what the Arabic text said as well. Apparently other passengers had complained about it and officials asked him to remove it. They did, at least, buy him another shirt to wear. Now here's my thinking. If he was in fact a terrorist, how would having him remove his shirt foil the plot, if you're going to let him on the plane once he had done so? And if he was not a terrorist, why would it matter what he had on his shirt? I don't mean to say that security officials should not be vigilant, but surely there is a way to do so without being irrational, over-reactive or outright xenophobic. I don't want to over simplify the issue, but there is one obvious, common element to all terrorism. It sets out to terrorize the targeted population, to make those people live in fear. If, as George W. recently pointed out, we are "at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom," and we are frightened into curtailing that freedom in response, who do you think is winning? If people are afraid to go about their lives as usual, who do you think is winning? If people are afraid of a person of Arabic descent wearing a T-Shirt with Arabic script, who do you think is winning?