But while the American people constantly prove themselves heroes, there are cowards among our ruling elite. These leaders are either more concerned with career than with protecting the nation, or are afraid of the cost of telling the truth, or are too dumb to know the truth.

Christmas didn’t last long. Funny how throngs riot worldwide at a few Islamic cartoons, but Christmas day itself is fair game for another domestic terrorist attack on America:

An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke – sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

The commotion began as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam, prepared to land in Detroit just before noon Friday. Travelers said they smelled smoke, saw a glow, and heard what sounded like firecrackers. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man, who officials say was trying to ignite an explosive device.

“It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase,” said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands. “First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke.”

Smith said one passenger, sitting opposite the man, climbed over passengers, went across the aisle and tried to restrain the man. The heroic passenger appeared to have been burned.

Afterward, the suspect was taken to a front-row seat with his pants cut off and his legs burned. Multiple law enforcement officials also said the man appeared badly burned on his legs, indicating the explosive was strapped there. The components were apparently mixed in-flight and included a powdery substance, multiple law enforcement and counterterrorism officials said.

Note from the severity of the perp’s burns that this was no small explosive device. The hero passengers very probably saved 278 innocent civilian lives, incalculable heartache, and many tens of millions of dollars in hardware, cleanup and investigation. Not that it was their motivation, but I say give them lifetime passes on Northwest.

But while the American people constantly prove themselves heroes, there are cowards among our ruling elite. These leaders are either more concerned with career than with protecting the nation, or are afraid of the cost of telling the truth, or are too dumb to know the truth.

An example would be General Casey, the chief of the Army, who after the Fort Hood massacre was more concerned with maintaining diversity in the Army than with his own troops’ safety, and who, to prove it, brought a terrorist-connected Muslim right into Ft. Hood to teach sensitivity after the atrocity; or President Obama, who never misses a chance to legitimate Islam and has dragged his feet on the Ft. Hood investigation; or even President G.W. Bush, whose frequent assertion that Islam is a religion of peace suicidally dulled our understanding of the nature of our enemy.

And so we are too busy security-checking old ladies from Preoria at untenable costs to be able to implement rational policies that would protect us. No nation can bear this kind of foolishness indefinitely. In the face of a ruthless enemy, we are asking for subjugation.

Don’t be fooled by a few peaceful verses thrown into the Koran early on. They are more than superseded by the later violent verses, and by the multifacetedly horrid example of Islam’s prophet himself. If that’s not enough, look at the consistent testimony of history and at current events. We have been warned of false prophets: You will know them by their fruit.

There are wonderful Muslims, who were unfortunate enough to have grown up under the wrong religion. God bless them. But that does not validate the religion itself. And until we deal with that fact we will continue to place ourselves and loved ones in needless jeopardy. It’s time we demand a lot more truth-telling from our leaders.