Peggy Noonan augments the 'No Attacks Mythology':
This is an argument that's been around for a while but is newly re-emerging as the final argument for Mr. Bush: the one big thing he had to do after 9/11, the single thing he absolutely had to do, was keep it from happening again. And so far he has.
Now, of course "it" hasn't happened again. Fact: no additional hijacked airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center towers since September 11. Why? Because those buildings were already attacked and destroyed after President Bush repeatedly ignored warnings from counter-terrorism experts.
We have not been attacked since 9/11. Someone—someones—did something right.
Someones? This is all part of a huge lie, and the lie is rapidly becoming reality.
Yes, we have been attacked on American soil since September 11. The anthrax attacks and the DC Snipers to name two. In fact, more Americans were killed by the DC Snipers (16 killed) than were killed in the first World Trade Center bombing (6 killed). Almost as many people were killed by the DC Snipers as were killed in the bombing of the USS Cole (17 killed).
Elsewhere there have been tens of thousands of terrorist attacks. From the 'No Attacks Mythology' chapter of my book:
A non-profit think tank called the Memorial Institute for Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) has been maintaining an online Terrorism Knowledge Base since the middle 1990s. In it, they report that between September 11, 2001 and March 2008, there have been 9,675 terrorist attacks in Iraq, accumulating 46,271 injuries and 26,161 deaths. In Afghanistan—that other American interest—there have been 1,069 terrorist attacks in which 2,323 people were injured and 1,809 people were killed.
No attacks, Peggy? I only wish that were true.
Adding... It recently occurred to me that Peggy Noonan is the Charles Winchester of the D.C. punditocracy.
UPDATE: Just expanded this into a Huffington Post column here.