Fire Napolitano, give us ‘change’

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had announced his sympathy for jihadi terrorism. Yet so crippled by political correctness is today's America that no one blew the whistle. Instead, he was sent to Fort Hood, where he opened fire on Nov. 5, killing 13 and wounding 31.

Almost two months later, the current administration still can't bring itself to identify Hasan as an Islamic terrorist. They can't even decide to allow soldiers to carry self-defense arms on U.S. military bases.

Next -- even as the uniformed goons known as the Thousands Standing Around were pointlessly strip-searching little old ladies in every airport in America, seizing milk from young mothers, rendering holiday air travel an arduous nightmare and thus seriously harming cities dependent on airborne tourism -- 23-year-old Islamic radical terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to smuggle explosives onto a Detroit-bound plane originating in Nigeria and the Netherlands.

The Nigerian radical -- who paid cash and checked no luggage, who the CIA had been tracking for months -- tried to blow up his load as his flight approached Detroit. Officials say he carried enough explosives to have blown a hole in the plane. Fortunately, the incompetent jihadist was apprehended by a Dutch national.

Wait, it gets better -- or worse: The young terrorist's father had repeatedly turned in his name to the American embassy in Lagos, warning authorities his son had fallen in with al-Qaida and might try something like this.

The State Department passed the "Viper" information to the National Counterterrorism Center. But officials now admit neither the State Department nor the NCTC checked to see if Abdulmutallab had ever entered the United States or had a valid visa -- information readily available in separate databases.

"It's not for us to review that," a State Department official said. What?

Over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano actually said, "One thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked" in Abdulmutallab's Christmas attack.

A passenger had to place his hand between the terrorist and a flaming bomb, and "the system worked"? The administration won't even acknowledge this was a terrorist attack! Instead of turning him over to military authorities for interrogation, it's now reported the young Nigerian was given a civilian lawyer, whose first act was to tell him to stop talking!

With what "domestic crime" is the Obama administration planning to charge the Christmas bomber -- "smoking in the boys room"?

Since her appointment, Ms. Napolitano has focused her department on supporting amnesty for illegal aliens and warning that disgruntled returning American military personnel should be watched lest they become "domestic terrorists."

Yet President Obama came to her defense Monday, claiming the U.S. government is doing all it can to protect U.S. citizens.

Really?

A fine example, presumably, was Ms. Napolitano's latest "close-the-barn-door-after-the-horse-has-bolted" solution. On many flights last weekend, passengers were not allowed to get out of their seats during the last hour before landing -- oldsters and potty-trained youngsters were told they'd just have to wet themselves. They couldn't even hold a pillow, blanket or newspaper in their laps.

Why not require passengers to hop aboard their flights on one foot, wearing pink underwear and singing Belgian nursery songs?

The Islamic terrorists seek to cripple America's economy. The current absurd, counterproductive and thoroughly unconstitutional "airport screening" regime accomplishes just that goal for the enemy, while failing every test set up to determine whether it offers us any real protection.

Yet President Obama merely promises us our current, "out-of-date" airport pantomime will now be made more oppressive, more intrusive, and presumably even more unconstitutional, through issuance of vastly more expensive government "technology" contracts.

President Obama should turn over Abdulmutallab -- an irregular, out-of-uniform saboteur subject to being stood up against a wall and shot according to every law of war -- for military interrogation and justice. Then he must immediately demand the resignation of the clueless (but oh so politically correct) Janet Napolitano. He must acknowledge we're under attack by Islamic fundamentalists bent on jihad.

The "Thousands Standing Around" TSA regime with its hours-long lines does no good. It's time to take a page from Israel and every other nation that has approached this problem with common sense: Allow law-abiding Americans to travel in peace. Instead, start closely questioning young Islamic males who fit the terrorist profile.