Why the United States suffered no follow-up terror attacks after 9/11

[Onkel Neal]

I found this an interesting read!

In trying to obtain a warrant to examine Moussaoui's laptop, a field officer in the FBI's Minneapolis office told FBI headquarters that he was "trying to keep someone from taking a plane and crashing into the World Trade Center." The FBI did not obtain the evidence of Moussaoui's al-Qaida link deemed necessary to obtain that warrant until two days after 9/11.

Too bad, I bet today the FBI would be able to get the warrant, or sieze the laptop under the Patriot Act.

In Afghanistan, the 9/11 attacks provoked a furious response from the United States military that destroyed al-Qaida's infrastructure of terrorist training camps and cave dwellings; unseated al-Qaida's protectors, the Taliban; and captured or killed two-thirds of al-Qaida's leaders—most notably, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 9/11's principal architect and now Guantanamo's best-known prisoner. According to Lawrence Wright, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Looming Tower: Al-Qaida and the Road to 9/11, nearly 80 percent of al-Qaida's Afghanistan-based membership was killed in the U.S. invasion; intelligence estimates suggest al-Qaida's current membership may be as low as 200 or 300. At the very least, U.S. forces set back the al-Qaida hierarchy by several years.

I realize this topic is like kicking a hornet's nest and the usual GT "experts" will weigh in on why this is correct or not, but it sure is fascinating.

[GoldenRivet]

one thing holds true Neal

no terror attack in 8 years... what do you want to bet there will be one in the next 5 though

[SteamWake]

What no mention of "The Wall" ?

[Platapus]

There has not been an attack on the US since the airing of the TV show "24" either.

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by Platapus

There has not been an attack on the US since the airing of the TV show "24" either.

Or American Idol.

[Sea Demon]

Even some inside al-Qaida have come to view terrorism's costs as too high

Well that's certainly good news. I wonder when they came to that conclusion. It certainly wasn't before we mounted an actual military opposition to them. If so, it has proven that organized military force has acheived much of it's objectives by shifting attitudes within these radical terror organizations.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

one thing holds true Neal

no terror attack in 8 years... what do you want to bet there will be one in the next 5 though

I wouldn't be surprised if there was no attacks in America in the next 5 years.
Why go all the way to America when there is plenty of Americans and other targets to
attack at home. Much easier.
The American invasion of the Middle East was a good distraction if nothing else.

All that said, I would not have been any more surprised if there was no attacks in
America in the next 5 years in an alternate universe in which the US did not invade
Afghanistan.

[Dowly]

@asanovic7 being keelhauled
Ffs! Stop banning the instigators! The GT fights are the only reason I visit SubSim anymore! What happened to the brig time first then ban?

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Dowly

@asanovic7 being keelhauled
Ffs! Stop banning the instigators! The GT fights are the only reason I visit SubSim anymore! What happened to the brig time first then ban?

I'm guessing it was for this post.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Letum

I'm guessing it was for this post.

Hmpf...

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by Dowly

@asanovic7 being keelhauled
Ffs! Stop banning the instigators! The GT fights are the only reason I visit SubSim anymore! What happened to the brig time first then ban?

Heh, he wasn't up to GT level - Notice how he posted inflamatory crap thorough his stay here and nobody answered the bait? Crike, most of us TRY to avoid flames, and it doesn't work.

Beside, I like them more articulate.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

one thing holds true Neal

no terror attack in 8 years... what do you want to bet there will be one in the next 5 though

I hope not, here or abroad.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

I hope not, here or abroad.

Agreed

we have a good stretch here, things just seem to quiet

and with a majority of the troops coming home in one year... who knows where this could all go

vigilance is the key