No surprise to me

Found this quotation in a press release for a January 25 Frontline regarding Al Qaeda:

'It might come as a surprise to many Americans,' says correspondent Lowell Bergman, 'But the most pressing threat to the United States is not the suspected Al Qaeda cells at home, but rather the cells operating overseas, especially in Western Europe.'

It doesn't come as a surprise to me at all. After 9/11, we aggressively attacked Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and we made it clear with our attack on Iraq that we will do whatever it takes to protect ourselves. After 3/11 in Madrid, the citizens caved completely. The French have been pandering to radical Islam non-stop (witness their disgusting behavior around Arafat's death). The Europeans generally have been scolding us consistently for our aggressive acts. The Dutch, after much caterwauling following Theo Van Gogh's death, have done nothing. Al Qaeda recognizes a soft underbelly, a dormant society, a society that has given up self-defense, when it sees one. I will say one other thing: up until 9/11, Al Qaeda thought we were also a paper tiger. Our actions before George Bush were utterly passive. We did nothing in 1979 when Iran took our citizens hostage (wait, I'm wrong; Jimmy Carter did apologize); we did nothing in 1983 when Islamists killed hundreds of our Marines; we did nothing when Leon Klinghoffer was murdered in cold blood; we did nothing in 1993 (or was it 1996?) when Al Qaeda did its dry run on the World Trade Center; we did nothing when the U.S.S. Cole was blown up; and on and on. Only with Bush did our government finally do something and you know what? Now it's Al Qaeda doing nothing to us. And if Americans can't see a pattern and swing themselves totally behind Bush and his foreign policy, this country deserves what it gets. I'm only sorry that those of us who figured it out will go down with the rest of them.