Some of the incidents cited by Kevin are from the DC sniper attacks. One sniper was a member of the Nation of Islam (ie, Black Muslims) and the other was his teenage assistant. One could argue their motives were political, but I think a stronger argument can be made that they were plain nuts. I don’t think you could tie them to ‘terrorism’, in the sense Bushies use, any more than you could tie the actions of any Irish murderer to the IRA.

I would argue the reason the US has been terror free since 9/11 is because there aren’t many terrorists. The hatred and despair prevalent in the Mideast does seem to produce a steady stream of people willing to make themselves human bombs, but where hope exists only the most fanatic will sacrifice themselves.

There are about a billion Muslims in the world, and millions in the West. If even a tiny fraction wanted to commit terror, and were willing to lose their lives, they could make life hell. It may take a generation or two, but I think the US reaction to 9/11 will be seen as an hysterical overreaction – exactly the reaction terrorists hope to provoke.

As with FDR and Pearl Harbor though, it seems that almost no matter the degree of their negligence, we give our Presidents at least one free one in things like this.

Except that simply isn’t true. There hasn’t been a large-scale terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11, true but there have been numerous smaller incidents all over the country. This lie is repeated and sustained because all these incidents have been classified as “not terrorist related” pretty much immediately by federal law enforcement.

Here’s a partial list:
3/19/2002 USA Tuscon, AZ 1 0 A 60-year-old man is gunned down by Muslim snipers on a golf course.
5/27/2002 USA Denton, TX 1 0 Muslim snipers kill a man as he works in his yard.
7/4/2002 USA Los Angeles, CA 2 0 Muslim man pulls out a gun at the counter of an Israeli airline and kills two people.
9/5/2002 USA Clinton, MD 1 0 A 55-year-old pizzaria owner is shot six times in the back by Muslims at close range.
9/21/2002 USA Montgomery, AL 1 1 Muslim snipers shoot two women, killing one.
9/23/2002 USA Baton Rouge, LA 1 0 A Korean mother is shot in the back by Muslim snipers.
10/2/2002 USA Wheaton, MD 1 0 Muslim snipers gun down a program analyst in a store parking lot.
10/3/2002 USA Montgomery County, MD 5 0 Muslim snipers kill three men and two women in separate attacks over a 15-hour period.
10/9/2002 USA Manassas, VA 1 1 A man is killed by Muslim snipers while pumping gas two days after a 13-year-old is wounded by the same team.
10/11/2002 USA Fredericksburg, VA 1 0 Another man is killed by Muslim snipers while pumping gas.
10/14/2002 USA Arlington, VA 1 0 A woman is killed by Muslim snipers in a Home Depot parking lot.
10/22/2002 USA Aspen Hill, MD 1 0 A bus driver is killed by Muslim snipers.
8/6/2003 USA Houston, TX 1 0 After undergoing a religious revival, a Saudi college student slashes the throat of a Jewish student with a 4″ butterfly knife, nearly decapitating the young man.
4/13/2004 USA Raleigh, NC 1 4 A Muslim man runs down five strangers with a car.
6/16/2006 USA Baltimore, MD 1 0 A 62-year-old Jewish moviegoer is shot to death by a Muslim gunman in an unprovoked terror attack.
6/25/2006 USA Denver, CO 1 5 Saying that it was ‘Allah’s choice’, a Muslim shoots four of his co-workers and a police officer.
7/28/2006 USA Seattle, WA 1 5 An ‘angry’ Muslim-American barges into a local Jewish center and shoots six women, one of whom dies.
2/13/2007 USA Salt Lake City, UT 5 4 A Muslim immigrant goes on a shooting rampage at a mall, targeting people buying Valentine’s Day cards at a gift shop and killing five.