Has Homeland Security and the Patriot Act prevented further attacks?

[kentuck]

On our nation? After all, we haven't had a foreign attack since 9/11. Doesn't that prove that they are doing their job? However, it is true we had not had a foreign attack since 1941 previous to 9/11 and we had no Homeland Security or Patriot Act.

Did you expect another attack after 9/11? Did not the terrorists achieve their goal with the WTC and Pentagon hits? Why would they need to hit America again? The truth is, nobody knows if they would have hit us again. Personally, I think they would have preferred to consolidate their glory for a few years after bringing humiliation to the powerful Satan.

So, it is similar to trying to disprove a negative. Who knows if they would have hit us again. In my opinion, Homeland Security and the Patriot Act are both mostly the result of the fears and paranoia of the leaders in Washington. Afer all, they really hven't done much to tighten security. If someone wanted to attack us, they could do it. Just as the ABC was able to ship the depleted uranium into a port in California without detection.

I think we can safely say we are spending a lot of money and surrendering our freedoms for the appearance of security but, things have just changed a little on the periphery -such as airport security and confiscation of bank accounts - overall security has not changed much at all. However, we can expect the Administration to brag about how they have protected us from attacks since 9/11 as some great achievement, when in fact, they have been very lucky.

(added word on edit)

[Ohio Dem]

1. I have a rock that keeps tigers away.

I don't see any tigers, so the rock must be working. (Apologies to the Simpsons.)

Is it working? There's really no way of knowing. No terrorists attacks don't prove anything.

[IkeWarnedUs]

2. A man is walking through the woods

He comes across another man spraying an aerosol can around him as he sits on a log.

"What are you spraying and why are you doing that?" he asks.

"This is an elephant repellant. It keeps the elephants away."

"There are no elephants around here," the walking man says.

"See how well it works," says the second.

[wtmusic]

3. Great analysis of that question

in Beyond Fear, security expert Bruce Schneier's new book. Makes the argument that most of that money is probably wasted.

All the National Guard units at airports' weapons were unloaded, and so useless except for appearance. Each was trained to spot a short list of very specific al Qaeda operatives, a fact which at the time was not released publicly.

He lists ways to circumvent nearly every security procedure funded by PATRIOT.