Just off the top of my head I can count at least 9 times American interests overseas have been attacked since 911.
2002
June 14, Karachi, Pakistan: bomb exploded outside American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12. Linked to al-Qaeda.
2003
May 12, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners. Al-Qaeda suspected.
2004
May 29–31, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, take foreign oil workers hostage in a nearby residential compound, leaving 22 people dead including one American.
June 11–19, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2 other Americans and BBC cameraman killed by gun attacks.
Dec. 6, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: terrorists storm the U.S. consulate, killing 5 consulate employees. 4 terrorists were killed by Saudi security.
2005
Nov. 9, Amman, Jordan: Suicide bombers hit 3 American hotels, Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.
2006
Sept. 13, Damascus, Syria: an attack by four gunman on the American embassy was foiled.
2007
Jan. 12, Athens, Greece: the U.S. embassy was fired on by an anti-tank missile causing damage but no injuries.
* Depriving al Qaeda of its training grounds in Afghanistan impaired the effectiveness of that organization.
* Waterboarding three top al Qaeda leaders may have given us the information we needed to head off plots and to disable three-quarters of al Qaeda’s leadership.
* The National Security Agency's eavesdropping on international terrorist communications may have allowed us to penetrate cells in America and to identify terrorists overseas.
* Al Qaeda’s designation of Iraq as the central front in its war against the West may have distracted terrorists from attacks on the United States.
* The gathering of al Qaeda loyalists in Iraq, where they've been decimated by US and Iraqi troops, may have crippled their ability to launch attacks elsewhere.
* Al Qaeda’s brutal conduct in Iraq may have destroyed its credibility in the Islamic world.
* The Bush administration's diplomacy may have convinced other nations to take stronger actions against terrorist groups.
* Our intelligence agencies may have gotten their act together after decades of failure.
The Department of Homeland Security may not be useless, after all.
One can debate the relative importance of these and other factors. But based on the historical record, the Bush administration obviously has done something since 2001 to dramatically improve our security against terrorism. To fail to recognize this is to sow the seeds of greatly increased susceptibility to terrorist attacks in the next administration.
-- John Hinderaker, powerlineblog.com
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