Readers: Terrorists Less Able To Launch Major Strike 15 Years Later

When I was trying to think of a question about 9/11 I did some digging online for examples and came across something interesting from Pew:

Opinions about terrorists’ capabilities to attack the U.S. have long been divided along partisan lines: During George W. Bush’s presidency, Democrats were often more likely than Republicans to say the ability to terrorists to launch a major strike was greater than at the time of 9/11, while the reverse has been true during Barack Obama’s administration. But this marks the first time in the past 14 years that a majority in either party has expressed this view.

The widening partisan gap in these attitudes is consistent with other recent measures of opinions on the government’s ability to deal with terrorism. In April, for instance, 75% of Democrats said the U.S. government was doing very or fairly well in reducing the threat of terrorism; just 29% of Republicans said the same.

The current survey also finds that partisan differences in views about the tradeoff between protection from terrorism and civil liberties are about as large as at any point in more than a decade. (Pew: 15 Years After 9/11, a Sharp Partisan Divide on Ability of Terrorists to Strike U.S. — recommended)

Another reason to have more than two political parties.

During my 19-day vacation, planned just prior to 9/11, we visited DC (twice), rural Pennsylvania, and New York City. I took roughly 2,300 photos, including of the damage to the Pentagon and around Ground Zero in Manhattan. But I want to share a different image, something beautiful.

We were closer to the Flight 93 crash site when we drove to Philly. Here are some links:

• Fallingwater & Kentuck Knob, both designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
• Flight 93 Memorial

Here are the results of  the non-scientific Sunday Poll:

Q: Ability of terrorists to launch major attack in the US is…

1. …less than it was on 9/11 14 [48.28%]
2. …same as it was on 9/11 9 [31.03%]
3. …greater than it was on 9/11 4 [13.79%]
4. Unsure/No Opinion 2 [6.9%]

Nearly half think the ability of terrorists to launch a major strike is less than it was.

— Steve Patterson