[COLUMN] Armed passengers better than a watch list

The Christmas Day attempt by an Islamic militant to blow up an American airliner is further proof that the Obama administration lives in a fantasy world when it comes to terrorism.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Candy Crowley last week on the CNN program "State of the Union" that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit airline flight Christmas Day demonstrated that "the system worked."

"We have no suggestion that he was improperly screened," she said with a straight face.

For those keeping score at home, Napolitano said that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian Muslim, was able to board Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam with explosives in his underwear after being "properly screened."

Oh, by the way, he was in the government's Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database and there was intelligence information before the attack that a Nigerian was plotting to blow up an American plane. He was also on the United Kingdom's security watch list and denied a visa in that country in 2008.

Additionally, his own father, a prominent Nigerian banker and former government official, warned the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, in October that his son had developed radical views and might have traveled to Yemen. Yet, officials did not revoke his two-year multiple-entry visa, which was issued in June 2008.

So, "the system worked"? If that is "proper screening," I would hate to see improper screening.

By Monday, Napolitano had backed away from her statement and admitted that the system failed. Also, President Barack Obama, after three days of silence on the matter, admitted there were "systemic failures" and made some vague pledge to "insist on accountability at every level." After his lack of response for three days, Obama was trying to paint himself as a reformer of a failed system put in place by President George W. Bush.

After a year in office, Obama should really stop blaming Bush for every failure of his own administration.

The fact is the system did not work.

That is because Obama and his administration refuse to accept the fact that militant Islam is dangerous to U.S. security.

When Obama finally deigned to make a comment about this latest terrorist attack against the United States, he refused to mention the word Islam or terrorism and actually used the term "allegedly" when describing the attempted bombing. He also made the ludicrous claim that the bombing attempt ... er, "alleged bombing attempt" ... was an "isolated incident" despite the fact that Abdulmutallab had extensive contact with a terrorist group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for the botched attack.

Obama simply does not understand that nature of the war in which he is engaged. This is why the system failed.

Screeners with the Transportation Security Administration operate as though every person traveling is a suspected terrorist. While this has the benefit of making everyone feel equally miserable about the way they are treated when flying, it does nothing to increase air travel security.

While liberals think it is a dirty word, the fact remains, security officials have to profile travelers based on national origins, race, age, religion and sex. When a 20-something Muslim man is trying to board an international flight with no luggage and uses cash to purchase his ticket, there ought to be red flags.

When an 80-year-old American woman from the Midwest tries to board a plane, there is no reason to strip-search her.

It is time to put an end to all these different watch lists. They do not work, obviously. They can only catch people already known to be threats, and then only those who are accurately identified at the airport.

Finally, of all the layers of security that failed, the one that did not fail was the human system. Fellow passengers ultimately thwarted the attack. It is time we stopping forcing airline passengers to be passive sheep waiting for slaughter. Passengers who have licenses to carry concealed weapons should be permitted to carry them on airliners provided they have the proper ammunition for airline use.

One armed passenger would do more to end a terrorist attack than all the watch lists in the world.