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America is not safer today than it was immediately following the attacks of September 11th. While many Americans, as well as certain branches of America's government, may be more aware of security than they previously were, the steps our nation has taken during the past 6 years have set the stage for longterm security threats to America and its citizens at home and abroad.

Relative safety must be examined in terms of both our efficacy in defending against a security threat, and the existence of such threats.

Following the first Gulf War of 1991, the security threat to America increased greatly. While the threat was understood at high levels of government, America's ability to mount an effective defense was hampered by partisan bickering, bureaucratic red-tape, and frankly, near total disinterest in the topic by the American population at-large.

Simultaneously, anti-American and anti-Western sentiments grew pervasively, enabling Islamic fundamentalists to make easy inroads among poor, disaffected Muslim youth-especially in the Middle East, South Asia and Britain.

In 1993, when the World Trade Center was first bombed, Americans missed a critical opportunity to improve their security situation, either by improving actual defense, or by learning about the nature and origin of the threat, and perhaps acting strategically to decrease those threats.

By the time the events of 9/11 unfolded, 10 years had passed during which America had hardly defended against the security threat, and the existence of threats had greatly increased. Following that tragic day, the tendency of Americans to wonder "Why us?" underscored how dangerous the situation had become. Most Americans seemed to have completely forgotten the original WTC bombing, and to be woefully unaware of the atmosphere that had been developing outside the U.S. for many years.

Since 9/11, America has done much to ramp up domestic security and keep physical threats at bay. Although some of these efforts have arguably weakened core aspects of American democracy, they have likely helped to stop potential attacks on American soil. Substantive proof, however, is lacking, since the government has declined or refused to divulge almost any salient details of foiled plots.

During the same time, anti-American sentiment spread swiftly following the second Gulf War. The massive outpouring of global support for America in the wake of 9/11, and the near universal support for America's military campaign in

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