AUSTRALIA CAME CLOSE – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  For some reason, it hasn't registered with the mainstream media how close Australia came recently to a series of ghastly plots by jihadists.  I don't know why Australia was especially targeted, but the country's security services are to be commended for their quick work in breaking up the plots.  From the West Australian: 

An 18-year-old who was shot dead after he stabbed two officers in Melbourne was planning to behead them, cover their bodies in an Islamic State flag and post photos to social media, according to reports.

The teenager, who recently had his passport cancelled on security grounds and had been spotted at a shopping centre draped in an IS flag, stabbed an AFP officer three to four times before twice stabbing a Victorian officer in the forearm after greeting them with a handshake, police said.

The teen, who has been named in media reports as Numan Haider, was searched and found to be carrying a larger knife and an Islamic State flag in his pocket, Fairfax reports.

He is a known terror suspect who authorities had been monitoring for months.

COMMENT:  These terror movements are based on ideas.  How do you stop an idea?  We're a bit naive in this country about ideological movements.  We always have been.  During World War II the United States Navy could not comprehend the Japanese kamikaze.  The notion of committing suicide in battle was outside our experience and our ethic. 

It is perfectly obvious that, despite assurances from Barack Obama, terrorism is not on the run, and is not about to be defeated.  Indeed, in recent days some military officers have said openly that it will take years to defeat the Islamic State.  Maybe the grown-ups in Washington are reasserting themselves. 

September 24, 2014