On Christmas Day, Nigerian al-Qaida terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab breached airport security and nearly succeeded in blowing up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight and killing the 282 passengers on board.

Thankfully, disaster was averted because of the terrorist's own mistakes, but this episode should be a wake-up call to all of us.

Incredibly, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's initial reaction to this terrorist attempt was that the "system worked as it should." To his credit, President Obama quickly distanced himself from that sentiment, as it was completely obvious that there were numerous breakdowns in the system.

Unfortunately, much of the current approach to dealing with terrorists is deeply misguided. Reasonable people can disagree about aspects of the George W. Bush administration's anti-terrorist policies, but it is now clear that the current administration and the Democrats' one-party dominance in Washington have swung the pendulum too far in the other direction. Extreme permissiveness when dealing with terrorists can have deadly consequences.

When the Northwest plane landed, the al-Qaida-trained Christmas bomber was seized by FBI agents and quickly turned over to a Michigan grand jury, complete with the legal rights that accompany U.S. citizens in our civilian courts, including Miranda rights and a court-appointed lawyer.