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Diminishing terror threat in US

Washington Post:

Reports of credible terrorist threats against the United States are at their lowest level since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to U.S. intelligence officials and federal and state law enforcement authorities.

The intelligence community's daily threat assessment, developed after the terrorist attacks to keep policymakers informed, currently lists, on average, 25 to 50 percent fewer threats against domestic targets than it typically did over the past two years, said one senior counterterrorism official.

A broad cross section of counterterrorism officials believes al Qaeda and like-minded groups, in part frustrated by increased U.S. security measures, are focusing instead on Americans deployed in Iraq, where the groups operate with relative impunity, and on Europe.

Anyone at the Post who think al Qaeda and the terrorist operate with impunity in Iraq simply is not paying attention. The terrorist actually avoid attacks on US targets in Iraq because it is too dangerous for them. Most of their attacks lately have been against Iraqi civilians and first responders. Half of these attacks fail because they are discovered or because of the incompetance of the attacker. That is hardly attacking with impunity. If you look at their two most recent attacks on defended targets in Iraq, both were absolute failures by any reasonable measure. Neither achieved even the insurgents minimum military objective, assuming they have an objective beyond being on the front page of the Post which is no real prize these days.