Front cover image for Overblown : how politicians and the terrorism industry inflate national security threats, and why we believe them

Overblown : how politicians and the terrorism industry inflate national security threats, and why we believe them

Why have there been no terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11? It is easy for a single person with a bomb-filled backpack to launch an attack. So why hasn't it happened? The answer is surely not Homeland Security, which cannot stop terrorists, legally or otherwise; surely not the Iraq war, which has stoked the hatred of Muslim extremists around the world. Is it possible that there are no al-Qaeda terrorists here? Is it possible that the war on terror has been a radical overreaction to a rare event? We have gone to war in two countries and killed tens of thousands; we have launched a massive domestic wiretapping program and created vast databases of information once considered private; the terrorism industry and its allies in the White House and Congress have preyed on our fears and caused enormous damage. It is time to rethink the entire enterprise.--From publisher description

Print Book, English, ©2006
Free Press, New York, ©2006