With all due respect to a close personal friend (Skarpi), he does not live in a country that had a terrorist cell make a number of attempts on the WTC, finally succeeding and killing several thousand people. Around the world, various folks asked what one expected with the lax security. We have been the targets for years, and this event crystallized the need for a different, more stringent set of security procedures.   I maintain that given the attack, we did a pretty good job of still allowing visitors. I would ask my Brit friends how they would have felt, after the Harrah's bombing and other attacks, if their country had not instituted special security procedures?

Sure we make mistakes, we may have in this incident. But all of you sterling debaters out there ought to use empiric data instead of demagogic stories. As I said, I am sure I can find horror stories for tourists in each of your countries.

Mick