What Will Bring Full Wakefulness?
Reader comment on item: Is terror winning the war?

Submitted by Robert Arsenault (United States), Sep 1, 2003 at 02:15

Mr. Pipes is correct about the inertia of the seriousness with which the western world addresses (and fails to address) the threats posed by militant Islam and its adherents in our midst. We need to realize that 9/11 was far from a worst-case scenario, and with an enemy as dedicated and adept at concealment as the one we face, an event worse than 9/11 must be considered inevitable until the day militant Islam fades away.
To paraphrase a famous quote, militant Muslims only have to get lucky once to destroy an American city with a nuclear weapon - but we have to get lucky every time to prevent this level of attack.
I fear that a greater state of wakefulness can not and will not occur until a terrorist attack at least of 9/11's scale takes place. That day will be a horrible one, and the actions we take in its aftermath are the actions we should be taking now.

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