I have just started reading Mudcat. because I am interested in the music threads, and I tend to shy away from political threads on the theory that people only post to them, they don't really read them, but I can't help myself here, so please forgive me.

First thing is that terrorist acts are always futile gestures. Terrorists go for symbolic targets, because they have no hope of making tangible gains, and when their attacks are successful, it always unites their adversary, which makes them even stronger than before the attacks.

Second is that the American economy is stronger today than it has ever been, even the Communists like the benefits of a capitalist economy. Over the last fifty years, many large and powerful forces have tried to undercut it, to surpass it, to "bury it", and one by one, they've had to toss in their cards. Angry marchers, angry editorials, and even suicide bombers are just bugs on the windshield--

Third, because America is the strongest militarily and economically, the rest of the world pays more attention to America than America pays to the rest of the world.