Al-Qaeda and others of their ilk could easily wreak havoc our cities and facilities if they chose to. They do not have to sneak in from abroad because they are already here, legally, most having entered the U.S. on student visas, as did the twenty 9/11 suicide terrorists. They can flummox our high-tech security agencies by communicating in languages and dialects unknown to them. They have no qualm about losing their lives. They do not require massive weaponry or high tech devices. Recall how the “Beltway Snipers,” John Muhammed and Lee Malvo, terrorized millions with nothing but an old car and a hunting rifle. Small squads of Al-Qaeda operatives deployed thorough the country could easily do the same on a much larger scale.
So why haven’t they attacked? Because it wouldn’t be in their best interest. For all intent and purposes, they feel they are winning the war. They have rendered air travel in our country and the civilized world an unpleasant ordeal. They have forced us to squander billions and lose face by sucking us into a mindless invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. They have helped fuel our economic decline. They have kept us on edge and suspicious of our institutions. And they know that another 9/11 would only bring the nation together under a common cause, the last thing they want. The main reason the terrorists are holding back, for now, is that they have no good reason to attack.