Terror? What Terror?

Venomous Kate has been putting together an interesting story Al-Qaeda May Be Shopping But Americans Aren't Buying, in which she combines the desire for chemical weapons, the increased "chatter" from al-Qaeda, and the apparent lack of interest on the part of ordinary Americans. All in all it paints a pretty worrisome picture.

I have to admit that I haven't been following the shenanigans of Bin Laden and company all too much. This provided a good overview to get me caught up and her analysis is pretty solid.

Especially the part about the recent attacks possibly being designed to distract us. If that was the design, it has been pretty effective. The conventional wisdom now says that al-Qaeda is on the ropes; that they're incapable of mounting a large-scale attack on the US.

Before 9/11 that was the prevailing CW then, too. We thought that they might be able to pull off a truck bomb or maybe even a small bio/chem attack. Never did we imagine something on the scale of 9/11.

And that is the secret to the success of al-Qaeda. They are audacious beyond our comprehension. We think they're capable of a car bomb; they come up with airplanes into the WTC. Right now we think that they're only capable of overseas attacks. al-Qaeda might just be bold enough to try to pull something here. They just might be.

And we'll play right into it. We can't prepare for an attack because it is likely to not happen. We can't completely ignore the threat. So Americans acknowledge that al-Qaeda is still out there, but we pretend that they aren't a real threat to us. Hence our lack of concern, despite the obvious clouds on the horizon.