Here’s the thing, this kind of gradualism and understatement is popular – because it works. Every day that goes by without another 9/11, is evidence that we are doing things right. Of course, it has its costs, so maybe that “right” needs be qualified. Maybe some entirely different strategy would also prevent another 9/11 at much lower cost in blood and treasure. But, we can never know the real effectiveness of plans never executed.

So, we choose a path, execute it for a while, and if it appears to work at all we stay with it, even with all its faults, the devil we know. The problem comes when it finally fails – ok, if it finally fails – and we do have another 9/11, or much worse. And then we still don’t really know the might-have-beens.