John Mueller (September 9, 2012). “Never have so few been able to frighten so many.” The Philadelphia Inquirer.
As we enter the second year of 9/11′s second decade, anxieties about terrorism in the United States haven’t declined – even though no Islamist terrorist has been able to detonate even the simplest of bombs in the United States, even though there has been no sizable attack in the country, even though Osama bin Laden has been expunged, and even though an American’s chance of being killed by a terrorist is about one in 3.5 million per year.
The war on terror, therefore, is likely to be with us for a very long time. Not only is there as yet no light at the end of the tunnel, but it might have no end at all.
Since the public remains terrorized, it seems likely to continue uncritically to support extravagant counterterrorism expenditures, including incessant security checks, civil-liberties intrusions, expanded police powers, harassment at airports, and militarized forays overseas if they can convincingly be associated with the quest to stamp out terrorism…
Read the full article at Philly.com.