" ... Although the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue--and we must be careful about premature declarations of victory--they have so far proven to be setbacks for the enemy. And improved domestic security has not only prevented attacks but also serves as a deterrent.
But the enemy has certainly not given up. In the last eight years, there have been successful attacks on the U.K., Spain, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to name just a few. And this is an enemy with great patience and a long time horizon. It took more than eight years from the first attack on the World Trade Center in February 1993 to prepare the second, more devastating, one. There is a grim joke about a member of the Taliban who meets an American who is bragging about his expensive Rolex: ''Yes,'' says the Talib, ''you have the watch but we have all the time.''
Unfortunately, this struggle will be with us for a long time to come and it could re-emerge in more dangerous forms if we try to pretend that it's no longer serious. Even if the terrorists are in retreat, extremist views are still gaining strength among large segments of the world's population. And the threat that terrorists might someday get their hands on weapons of mass destruction remains and could easily grow if nuclear proliferations continue. A successful attack with biological or nuclear weapons could produce casualties that would dwarf those of Sept. 11. Beyond the death and destruction, such an attack could transform the way we live and lead us to hunker down into closed societies and closed economies."
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