Try this little thought experiment
Ask yourself why there have been no terrorist attacks on American soil since 2001.
OK?
Now ask yourself why there were no terrorist attacks on American soil in the four years before 9/11.
Done? Good. Now...did you learn any valuable lessons from this? I didn't think so.
P.S. This highlights a scary probability: that when the next terrorist attack comes, the same people who bragged about their spotless record of preventing terrorism will cry that America was stabbed in the back by their critics.
(HT to Kevin Drum)