Some thoughts:
1) 9/11 happened 14 years ago. Since then, wars have been waged in/against Afghanistan and Iraq under the rationale of fighting terrorism. In Syria (and Iraq), a Western military intervention has been conducted against the Islamic State for the past one and a half years now. Harsh anti-terrorism laws have been passed in various countries in the wake of 9/11 as well as the 2004 Madrid and 2005 London attacks. The NSA has supposedly put global telephone and Internet communications under constant surveillance. The US has significantly increased targetted killings via drone strikes in recent years. So, why does something like Paris happen? Isn't it past time to reach the conclusion that our governments have failed in proctecting us? Aren't we doing enough or are we simply doing it wrong?
I don’t think so.
2001: 9/11 attack, ~3000 killed
2002: Bali bombing, ~200 killed
2004: Madrid train bombing, ~200 killed
If someone had told me after the Madrid bombing that the next terrorist attack aimed against Western civilians to produce more than 100 fatalities would not happen until 2015, I’d consider that an impressive record. That’s not to diminish the loss of people who died in smaller attacks, nor the people who died in terrorist attacks in Nigeria, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iraq, etc., but if you’re just talking about the narrow goal of “keeping people safe” from terrorism in North America, Western Europe, and Australia, then one could easily make the case that those respective governments have a better record over the past decade than almost everyone would have predicted from the vantage point of the early 2000s.
You could certainly tell a story in which, leading up to 9/11, terrorist attacks were getting smarter and more sophisticated, and then, following the invasion of Afghanistan, the killing and capture of so many al Qaeda leaders, etc., terrorist attacks started getting dumber and less sophisticated. Maybe we’re now seeing that reverse again with Islamic State on the ascendancy, but it’s still early days.
This forum is relevant enough to have an impact on the “real world”?
