Quote:
|
Nor do I think that our being in Iraq in any way would prevent terrorists from again crashing airliners into buildings . . . It's not like we have every al-Qaeda terrorist bottled up in Iraq.
|
The terrorists in Iraq are not available for suicide missions in western capitals. Moreover, terrorists are much more likely to be killed when attacking armed forces than in attacks on civilians who cannot defend themselves. Furthermore, the force of the united statian reaction to 911 suggests similar military reaction would follow another major terrorist attack and this would dissuade. The published degradations terrorist suspects have endured also are probably dissuasory. I don't know what has helped more prevent a 911-like attack, whether it is improved monitoring of foreigners, the appeal of an opportunity to attack troops in Iraq or the killing of terrorists there. All three likely have impact though.