Panic and civilian guesswork, our frontline defense in the war on terror:

A Florida professor was arrested and removed from a plane Monday after his fellow passengers alerted crew members they thought he had a suspicious package in the overhead compartment.

That “suspicious package” turned out to be keys, a bagel with cream cheese and a hat.

Ognjen Milatovic, 35, was flying from Boston to Washington D.C. on US Airways when he was escorted off the plane for disorderly conduct following the incident.

The story screams out for one of those “if we can’t eat our bagels, the terrorists have won” jokes. But all I can think of is Juan Williams and his perfectly sensible acknowledgment of what realistically puts one on edge when flying. It’s wrong to note that we live in an age of Islamist terrorism. Instead we should all be warily eyeing our fellow passengers’ breakfasts.