9-11 and How We Have Gone Soft

Mark Steyn:

Waiting to be interviewed on the radio the other day, I found myself on hold listening to a public-service message exhorting listeners to go to 911day.org and tell their fellow citizens how they would be observing the tenth anniversary of the, ah, “tragic events.” There followed a sound bite of a lady explaining that she would be paying tribute by going and cleaning up an area of the beach.

Great! Who could object to that? Anything else? Well, another lady pledged that she “will continue to discuss anti-bullying tactics with my grandson.”

Marvelous. Because studies show that many middle-school bullies graduate to hijacking passenger jets and flying them into tall buildings?

Go read the rest. The Sheep can wait.

Walid Phares describing what we've failed to do:

Here are some realities:

Afghanistan: Bringing down the Taliban regime was a smashing victory for the U.S., NATO and the Afghan people particularly for women and minorities.

Defending the country against the return of the jihadi militias and containing their incursions from inside Pakistan’s enclaves were the right strategic choices. But the U.S. and NATO failed to engage civil society groups, women, and secular wings to help launch a democratic revolution in the country instead of spending billions on asphalt, construction, and futile unproductive projects.

Al-Qaida: The long relentless campaign against the top entity of the jihadists bore results over 10 years. They lost the sole regime that backed them openly in Kabul, retreated to Pakistan, lost more of their commanders by the years, and eventually lost their leader Osama in 2011. But multiple other tentacles of the organization have grown bigger and longer in reach.

Still operating and killing in AFPAK, franchises opened in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, North Africa, and their cells hit in India, Russia, and Europe. Al-Qaida today is 10 times larger in global reach than the old one headed by bin Laden.

Al-Qaida: The long relentless campaign against the top entity of the jihadists bore results over 10 years. They lost the sole regime that backed them openly in Kabul, retreated to Pakistan, lost more of their commanders by the years, and eventually lost their leader Osama in 2011. But multiple other tentacles of the organization have grown bigger and longer in reach.

Still operating and killing in AFPAK, franchises opened in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, North Africa, and their cells hit in India, Russia, and Europe. Al-Qaida today is 10 times larger in global reach than the old one headed by bin Laden.

Homeland security: The terrorists who brought down the twin towers were foreign-born aliens who penetrated America’s defenses killing thousands. However their ideology penetrated America, producing homegrown cells. Moreover, a more lethal type is expanding within our borders: the jihadi lone wolves. No spectacular acts since 2001 but an army is brewing inside the country.

The U.S. is losing on all these fronts, and so are democracies and free people around the world. The real debate should be about what is being missed. We must focus on the enemy’s ideology.

Unfortunately over the past 10 years, Washington and its companions in Europe have lost the mother of all wars: the war of ideas. If American leadership persists in dodging the ideological battle with the jihadists, by 2020 not only we would have missed a precious opportunity with the Arab Spring but most likely lost a vital shot at bolstering national security.

This strikes me as accurate, but maybe a touch too pessimistic. Al Qaeda is very likely larger now. But I'd note that it is probably more nebulous with less high level knowledge or organizational abilities available. The Iraq and Afghan wars have definitely pulled some of the most effective teeth. No doubt there are more, but I find it likely the damage to their infrastructure, as nebulous as it was, was probably profound.

The Arab spring is also likely draining resources from Al Qaeda as groups in Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood try to seize power. Should they succeed we will likely see an escalation of issues, though not through Al Qaeda. The more subtle attacks on our society by the likes of CAIR and the Islamic lobbyist structures will likely start causing damage beyond what they already have. The fact that the PC BS that the government has been playing with in the LEO is a telling sign that should really concern us all. TipToe around the Islamists while vilifying the citizenry is continuing.

In some ways, such as the Dept. of Homeland (in)Security and the TSA are erosion of freedom that are partial wins for the terrorists. The impact on the public is far from minor, and with the TSA trying to set themselves up for roaming scans of people in public places I see them becoming an extension of the problem as any government agency is. Is this a win for the Jihadi's? I'd say yes.

Don't forget those "National Security Letters" as well. No probable cause, no judicial oversight? What ever happened to the 4th amendment? From reports they sound as though they were highly abused for quite a few years and are finally tapering to a lower level of use. With no oversight and no review from a publicly available committee, it will be impossible to know if these were ever of any value or just how extensive the abuses were. Is this a win for the Jihadi's? I'd say yes.

Are we safer? I'd say yes. Have we lost something? Definitely.