I've written columns about football before. I've written columns about terrorism before. And I've written columns about civil liberties before.

Who needs safety when you've got rights

But I wish I didn't have to write a column about how good old American civil liberties are making football stadiums safe for terrorism.

I suppose, to be accurate, I should say that civil liberties are not the culprit, but rather the American Civil Liberties Union, that bastion of ensuring individual "freedom" to do whatever you want, whenever you want, no matter who it hurts - freedom at all costs even if it kills us, you might say.

Last week, a federal district judge in Florida agreed with the ACLU lawyers that "pat-down" searches of football fans entering NFL stadiums are unconstitutional and unreasonable.

The argument is that the government is violating citizens' Fourth Amendment rights by trying to make sure they are not carrying explosives into the stadium. Forget about the fact that the policy was instituted by the NFL, not Homeland Security. Forget about the fact that the Tampa Sports Authority - the defendant in the lawsuit - is to "the government" what Play-doh is to "fine art." Forget about the fact that terrorists have made no secret of the fact that they will hit any facility where people congregate because their goal is to kill as many innocent people at once as possible.

Forget all that.

All that matters is that Gordon Johnson, a civics teacher in Tampa, is oblivious to the fact that we as a civilization are engaged in a war of survival with a competing civilization that has pledged to destroy us. All that matters is that Mr. Johnson is sensitive about having another human being touch his midsection for a millisecond - more sensitive about that apparently than the prospect of having himself or hundreds of other people blown apart by plastic explosives.

All that matters is that a federal judge has decided there is no "substantial and real risk" of terrorists killing people at football stadiums. Thus, there can be no pat-down searches, and thus the chance of "substantial and real risk" to those attending NFL games has increased exponentially.

So what exactly are we dealing with?

Here is what you need to know:

. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

That's the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

. "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies - civilians and military - is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and the holy mosque [in Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah.'"

That's an excerpt from the Feb. 23, 1998, Fatwa of Osama bin-Laden declaring war on the United States and its people.

. "Are you ready for some terrorism?"

That's my proposal for the new slogan of the National Football League, thanks to Judge James Whittemore's ruling that the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable (emphasis mine) searches ensures that terrorists should have a right to walk into American football stadiums and blow them up. The good judge has declared that it is not reasonable to expect a sworn enemy of the United States to try to kill our innocent civilians just because they have said they will do so. It would only be reasonable - and thus appropriate to do pat-down searches - if the terrorists were stupid enough to announce in advance that they are coming to a particular stadium on a particular day.

Bottom line?

If Osama bin Laden and his band of unmerry men were looking for the Achilles' heel of this nation, they may have just found it. You know the old Greek myth about the warrior Achilles, right? He was invulnerable to attack except on one heel where his mother had held him when she dipped him into the river Styx as an infant.

So, too, is the United States invulnerable in many respects. We have the most powerful military in the world, the most energetic economy, and the most vital form of government. But it would seem from our recent experience that this nation also suffers from a fatal weakness - the belief that we must protect the rights of every individual at all times and in all circumstances, even to the detriment of the nation as a whole.

This is a noble failing, certainly - very much the stuff of myth - but a failing nonetheless. If we are more concerned about the propriety of a middle-aged man having his butt touched for a split second during a search for strapped-on explosives than we are about the possibility of an America-hating suicide bomber killing several hundred people in Rows JJ through XX, then we certainly cannot expect to defeat a determined enemy.

And yes, we have a determined enemy.

. "If avenging the killing of our people is terrorism, then history should be a witness that we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents and this is legal religiously and logically."

That's from Osama bin Laden's videotaped confession (released in November 2001) of responsibility for the attack on the World Trade Center.

Enough said.

Are you ready for some football?