If we want to see global terrorism decrease, then the fear and anger that causes us to hate an entire religion and people group must decrease.
And if we want to see domestic, white terrorism decrease, than the fomenting of violent rage in the name of patriotism, freedom, and security in the form of glorified gun proliferation must decrease.
As we are finding out in Iraq, military boldness does not always decrease terrorism.
Toppling tyrants does not automatically decrease terrorism, either, and in the short run it isn't even guaranteed to make life better for people in the countries the tyrants ruled.
Robert McCallum, assistant attorney general for the department's civil division, said that in appealing the Aug. 2 order, the department "continues its efforts to prevent terrorists from developing a road map to our ongoing terrorism investigation, to decrease the risk of a future attack on the American people and to protect the privacy interests of those who were detained".
The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security says basically the same thing: "America's best weapon against terrorism is to decrease its dependency on foreign oil by increasing its fuel efficiency and introducing next-generation fuels.
A poll reported on Friday by the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth found that 74percentt of Israelis backed the policy, but only 22percentthoughtht it decreased terrorism.
For example, a comparison of deportation proceedings initiated in immigration courts in the decade before and after 9/11 reveal that proceedings on national security and terrorism grounds had decreased, while the number of removals for immigration based grounds had increased (TRAC Migration Report, 2011).
The experience of the rest of the world indicates however, that terrorism alone will not decrease the importance of city centers for the public life of societies.
Taking advantage of a decrease in terrorism and property prices still far below Western levels, foreigners bought over $1.2 billion in Israeli real estate in 2006, according to the Israel Central Bank, more than double the $445 million in sales just three years earlier.
Too bad we don't feel that way about global perils that threaten us all and will do infinitely greater harm than terrorism; climate change, the decreasing effectiveness of antibiotics, the peril of a quickly spreading pandemic in our globally-connected community.
