AP Photo
Summer 2012
"The Terrorism Delusion: America’s Overwrought Response to September 11"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 1, volume 37
By John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart
The reaction of the United States to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has been massively disproportionate to the actual threat posed by al-Qaida. This exaggerated response has inspired an expensive quest to ferret out, and even to create, a nearly nonexistent threat. The evidence suggests that the attacks of September 11, however tragic and dramatic in the first instance, have spurred more than a decade of needlessly high-cost anxiety and alarm despite exceedingly limited evidence that such a high level of fear is warranted.
