Storm-Rider,
I think Bush/Cheney foresaw this “Third Jihad” stage, and they knew that a good part of it would be fought inside America.

But, by projecting the first part of this War into the ME-proper and the Indian/Pakistani/Afghani theatre (a policy in direct opposition to John Kerry’s), the Bush administration was able publicize the antagonists and highlight the legal mine-fields by proxy in preparation for the domestic, legal wars to come.

Preparing, popularizing and exercising “thought-models” (ie. is “water-boarding” really torture? Is flushing a Koran really a “war-crime?”) in advance of the domestic phase of the war will be proven wise, I think. The bulk of the forward lessons we have gained has seriously compromised the standard domestic legal defenses that provide cover for in-country terrorists.

Some of the ‘soft’ weapons in the Constitutionalists’ quiver that I expect will see live-fire after another terrorist attack in the West are:
1. targeted restrictions on student visas – these’re sure to be called “racist in the UN, but if India, Japan, the US and Western Europe all stand together, they could make a real statement.
2. businesses’ hiring personnel will increase targeted discrimination of groups that over-litigate: a rational, if covert, mechanism for retribution against pariah groups is already built in.
(Foiling this mechanism with EEOC, “hate-crimes” and interstate commerce laws will certainly be on Obama’s AG’s “to-do” list.)
3. satirical new-media outlets – a cottage industry focused on ridiculing terror’s apologists is already growing. Judea Pearl’s recent editorial in the WSJ gives this industry a needed push.
4. INS-mediated, forced deportation: the ultimate, non-militant fall-back position lays at the ready. If it is ever used, expect the entire raft of “Immigrants’ rights” groups – from Davos to Santa Cruz – to raise a ruckus.

Each one of these weapons, including the ridiculing media-weapon, has been fortified legally by Bush’s forward modeling. Maybe this was only an accidental benefit and maybe not, but it is one of those intangible benefits that come only from the same forward-leaning military excursions that the global Left can be counted on to dissuade us from everytime.

This “coincidental” cooperation is screaming for more attention. I think it’s time it got it.