One hopeful thing about the Christmas bomber

Word that a terrorist very nearly destroyed an American airliner over Detroit on Christmas day has rightly revived — or re-energized — the debate over how we should respond to Islamic terrorism.

From the muddle of bad news surrounding this near-tragedy there emerged one ray of hope.

The family of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab notified Nigerian and foreign security agencies that they were concerned about their son’s radicalization.

This Muslim family took an extraordinarily painful, courageous, and moral act. They should be applauded.

If the world is to come to terms with Islamic extremism, these are the sort of heroes who will have to lead the way.

In the U.S., unfortunately, many Muslims are wary of cooperating with authorities, an unacceptable situation.

Whatever else we do to improve domestic security, we have to help the Islamic community — especially Islamic leaders in the West — police their own neighborhoods and families.

When radical extremists emerge, exerting their vicious influence over young Muslims, there must be a shared and coordinated effort to weed them out.

In this case, our intelligence system seems to have failed the people aboard that Northwest Airlines flight.

But it also may have failed a suffering family that was desperately trying to raise the alarm about their troubled and dangerous son.