The War on Terrorism

Before the dust settled in lower manhattan it had become almost universally agreed that terrorism, and specifically islamis terrorism, now opposed an existential threat to america. What was at stake, we were told, was our entire social order and way of life. This was simply not rational. There was never any reason to think that terrorists, even if they got hold of a nuclear weapon, could wreak that kind of damage. Since september eleventh, western governments have done things that violated what before then had seemed fundamental legal and moral principles. And as things have turned out, there has been no victory in the war on terror and very little justice.