Did America Overreact to 9/11?

David A. Bell wrote recently in the Los Angeles Times that the United States overreacted to 9/11.

The attacks were a horrible act of mass murder, but history says we’re overreacting.

Oh really, writes philosopher Lee Harris?

Now if by this Bell means that they cannot kill us all, or even more than a few thousand at a time, then history seems to have proven him right

But that’s not quite how the world works.

The inmates of any jailhouse know that even mildest acts of aggression must be instantly and firmly challenged. If you are a newcomer and another inmate demands that you give him your candy bar, the worst thing you could possibly do would be to try to put the incident into perspective.

So the question about 9/11 is whether the Islamist terrorists represent any kind of possible threat.  If they do, then we are right to overreact, because underreacting just encourages them. 

If they will never have a chance of bringing power to bear on the United States, then we should do as Bell recommends, and ignore them.

One thing seems fairly certain.  The Islamists firmly believe that they are going to take over the world.

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