Wake-up call: News from Australia a sign -- it cannot be business as usual

For years, the president's critics have said that his policy with regard to the Middle East was not going to work.

They warned him that when you are dealing with militants who think they are going to paradise for killing those who do not share their beliefs -- and who have no concern about killing innocents in the process -- "hearts and minds" just does not work.

And now we have even more proof -- and even more of an incentive to take the strong action that more than a few military advisers are saying we will need to take if we are going to keep this country safe.

Americans were shocked when they saw two journalists and an aid worker beheaded on video. They were understandably angered by the barbaric disregard for human life.

But they should really be concerned about the terrorists' beheading plot that was foiled in Australia and the implications for this country.

ISIS loyalists were ordered to select a random person in Sydney and to commit a recorded beheading. The idea -- to show the West that these barbarians can strike anywhere, anytime.

And, by the way, these operatives were already in the country.

The bottom line is that we need to act not only with aggressive and decisive action overseas, but with strict rules about entering and staying in this country.

That's the best way to make sure we are protecting our nation and sending a message of our own: that this nation is prepared to fight.

Published in Editorials on September 18, 2014 11:13 AM