[Steve_Seattle]

There is no risk of a dictator, a Gestapo or a civil war.

Well, at least on that score, he disagrees with Bush's paranoid critics.

America does have enemies - crazy, sadistic, tenacious, growing and wily enemies . . . So the country is of course vulnerable to terrorism . . . But no one in government underestimates the country's vulnerability or the power of the unconventional enemy.

This, of course, contradicts what he says below.

This does not, however, add up to a nation in danger. It adds up to something that sounds too callous for politicians to say out loud. America is vulnerable to the tragedy and trauma of a terrorists attacks.

But there is no danger of the equivalent of war on our soil, of mass loss of life, of a crippled economy, disrupted civilian life and destabilized government.

Yes there is. The Islamists have repeatedly said they want to destroy us, destroy our economy, and kill as many of us as possible. After 9-11, how can anyone say that it is beyond their power to wreak enormous damage on this country?

[pieces of time]

This guy is living in another world. Al Qaeda et al don't want to terrorize the U.S., they want to bring us down. Maybe that's the difference between the pinks in the politics/media and the rest of us. They think that these guys just want to scare us.