For Those With Ears to Hear

John Hinderaker's Powerline post, Are We Safer?, provides the empirical evidence which answers that question for any reasonable person. It is astonishing that, not only have there been no successful attacks inside the United States since 9/11/01, there have also been no successful attacks on U.S. interests overseas for over 4 years. One could attempt to attribute this to the long periods of time that traditionally elapse between al Qaeda attacks. However, that doesn't explain all of the attacks cited by Hinderaker for each year from 1995 through 2001. Also, the longest stretch without an attack was from 1988 to 1991 -- three years. Most of the attacks were within 1-2 years of the last attack. With respect to the lack of attacks abroad, they are significantly more vulnerable than mainland targets. Yet, no successful attacks.

Success in the past does not guaranty success in the future. However, it does indicate that President Bush has been doing something right in preventing further terrorist attacks. There are many reasons to be unhappy with the President, but this is not one of them.