"National Security 101"

From today's New York Post:

"...[T]here is every reason to believe - albeit inferentially - that the NSA and military intelligence-gathering efforts are paying substantial dividends.

Since 9/11, the terrorists' butcher's bill has been horrific.

Consider:

* The October 2002 bombing of a Bali nightclub took 202 lives and injured 209.

* The October 2002 attack by Chechen separatists on a Moscow theater resulted in the deaths of 130 hostages.

* The March 2004 bombing of the Madrid rail system killed 192 people and wounded 2,050.

* The September 2004 Chechnyan siege of a Beslan school ended with 344 people dead (186 children) and 700 injured.

* The July 2005 bombings of London trains and a bus killed 56 people and wounded another 700.

* Ongoing suicide and car bombings in Iraq have killed thousands of innocent civilians.

But notably not on that list is an attack within the United States.

This absence has several causes - and not one of them is because the terrorists have suddenly forgotten about America or have given up trying to inflict various levels of harm on these shores.

One reason is that George W. Bush decided to take the war to the enemy rather than wait for the enemy to strike again on American soil.

Another, just as significant, is because the above-mentioned intelligence agencies have pulled out all the stops to prevent another 9/11.

The NSA initiatives are a huge part of that effort - and its success, knock on wood, speaks for itself..."