Flypaper?

While following a thread on Indepundit, I ran across an interesting observation by a commentor named Joe:

How many terrorist attacks did the US suffer when Clinton and Carter were in office? At a minimum, hostage taking in Iran, hostage taking in Lebanon, WTC attack 1, USS Cole, various attacks on US Embassies and the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia. All resulted in little to no response and never stopped the tide. They hit us with W in office thinking things were the same. Found out otherwise and no one is raising their greasy little heads out of their holes to taunt us. I for one feel much safer.

Putting aside Joe's emotional tones, it's pretty clear to me that he makes a great point:

On U.S. soil, post-9/11 we have not suffered a terrorist attack*.

What's happening? I think that we as a nation are becoming more vigilent and we're also relearning how dangerous the world is. I also think that the terrorists are focused on other parts of the world: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Turkey. I also think that terrorists are focusing on softer targets: Saudi residential compounds, Iraqi police stations, and British embassies.

But in the end, I see this: W has taken the fight to the enemy.

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*The Ricin attacks in Washington, I think, smack of some sort of homegrown terrorist.

(oh, by the way, Joe's comment was part of a great conversation about Smash's statement, "It never ceases to amaze me how some people can claim to "oppose the war, but support the troops." )