I've been thinking recently about what to write today, given that it's the 5 year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the more I think the less I want to say. Everyone knows what happened that day was a nightmare, but what has happened since is also a shame. As a country, we haven't risen up to defend what we believe in, or what we stand for. We've cowered and handed over those freedoms we claim to be so proud of.

Rather than write something, I decided that I'd point to two posts by Bruce Schneier that I've linked to in the past, but deserve to be read again - especially today. On Aug 24th of this year he made a post called What The Terrorists Want which gets right to the heart of all of this:

"The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics. The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act."

The acts of September 11th were not about blowing up a plane, taking down a building, or killing thousands of people. Those were the tools to get a reaction out of the rest of us. A reaction we've been more than happy to give. If they "hate us because we have freedom" then why is the best reaction to give that up? Last week Bruce followed up with a Scorecard from the War on Terror citing actual Justice Department records and showing that from a prosecution standpoint, nothing has changed. Most terrorism cases are declined, and those that are actually prosecuted, get about a month in jail. He explains that:

"Most "terrorism" arrests are not for actual terrorism; they're for other things. The cases are either thrown out for lack of evidence, or the penalties are more in line with the actual crimes. I don't care what anyone from the Justice Department says: someone who is jailed for four weeks did not commit a terrorist act."

So really, if you haven't read those posts yet, go read them. And think about these words from Benjamin Franklin:

"People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both"