Islamic State now threatens American homeland

Civilized nations – including Muslim states – have united in condemning the savagery of the so-called Islamic State. The attacks on Paris have also reminded Americans that France is our oldest ally and readily joined our war on al-Qaida and the Taliban after the terror attacks of 9/11.

As France strikes back against Islamic State, America does not have the diplomatic or moral option of denying its assistance.

The two countries – and 26 others – are bound by the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, whose core provision calls for an attack on one to be treated as an attack on all. France may not formally invoke Article 5, as the United States did after 9/11, but the mutual interests of France and America demand a common response.

Syrian-based Islamic State has surpassed al-Qaida in depravity and capability. It is better funded and more ruthless: Al-Qaida never burned people alive in cages.

It has now shown it can mount secret and sophisticated attacks far outside its home territory. A day before the Paris massacre, it slaughtered dozens of Shiites in Lebanon. Two weeks earlier, it claimed “credit” for destroying a Russian airliner with 224 people aboard. The attack in France was carefully choreographed and carried out by professionally trained killers.

Islamic State threats to strike next at the United States are credible. Americans cannot sit back and hope the various factions at war in Syria and Iraq will fight it out among themselves in the Middle East.

Past responses to the Syrian civil war now need rethinking.

Russia’s growing involvement in Syria is all about saving the murderous government of Bashar al-Assad. But that goal does require military action against Islamic State, and Vladimir Putin is presumably looking to avenge the murder of the Russian air travelers.

There’s a common interest here. French President Francois Hollande’s proposal for a Western-Russian coalition against the terrorist organization may well make sense at this point.

Islamic State could also be starved economically. Its terror campaign and military conquests are expensive. It is financing them in part with petroleum sales, to Turkish oil-smugglers among others. The United States and NATO should be leaning on Turkey and others to shut down the trafficking that keeps the terrorists in business.

President Obama has been consistently disappointing in his indecisive responses to the Syrian civil war and Islamic State. It has often looked as if the core principle of his foreign policy was disengagement from the Middle East, whatever red lines were crossed. When he has engaged, he’s tended to do so grudgingly and tepidly.

Friday’s bloodbath calls for a tougher and more effective strategy against this new mutation of international terrorism. It’s not just a matter of supporting France; it’s a matter of defending Americans from attack in the malls, theaters and stadiums of America's own cities.