Why Bother?

On the fifth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there has been a lot of discussion about whether there will be another attack. Maybe if you are Usama Bin Laden you are asking the question “Why bother?”. The objective of terrorism as a tactic is to terrorize the civilian population of the target country in order to change behavior and to cause economic dislocation and civil discord. Usama Bin Laden achieved these objectives in spades with his attack on the U.S. on 9/11/2001. Not only did he inflict much more damage and injure and kill many more innocent people than he anticipated, but his timing was perfect. Although he probably didn’t realize it, by attacking two months before the U.S. elections, he insured that American politicians remind us every year of how dangerous the world is and how vulnerable we are. No need to instigate another attack; Americans can continue to relive the old one.