Doesn't the fact that we overreacted wildly to 9/11--two wars, plus a "war on terror", the shredding of civil liberties, torture, and Rovian political toxicity--show uniquely that America has become so soft and weak that we cannot deal with any sort of national setback? Overreaction is very much a sign of weakness, and other nations have been victims of terrorism in a much more significant way than we have (e.g. Israel, India) and the continuing terrorist threat is, I would imagine, far more real and present there than it is here. We nearly tore our country apart after being hit once. If Israel had reacted historically to attacks like we have these past few years it would not have lasted a year as a nation.
One would hope that our reaction next time would be a bit more tempered: after all, after you get in a fight and get bruised a little you usually realize that it isn't the end of the world and you stop being afraid. Unfortunately, after the past few years I somehow doubt that we'll grow wisdom on these issues.
