. . and it succeeded wonderfully. The middle ground has been reduced to nearly nothing and the influence of Islamic radicals has been greatly increased. Nearly the entire Islamic world has been turned solidly against the U.S.

The Bush Administration stepped in with a degree of stupidity the perpetrators could barely have imagined. Now they've got the U.S. overextended and right where they can hit U.S. targets conveniently and continuously because they're indefensible.

There will be enough colateral damage from U.S. defensive actions to continue increasing hatred of the U.S. in the hearts of Islamic peoples everywhere, but most intenseley in the areas the U.S. occupies, making it ever easier to strike at U.S. targets.

When the U.S. retreats from Iraq it will be left in total chaos, to eventually become dominated by radical Islamic clergy, an Islamic state supporting terrorism against the U.S. The main secular state in the area has been overthrown and is no longer a problem.

Americans, meanwhile, are left with a lot less freedom and a lot of difficulty traveling, and our alies are continuously insulted when our "security" system mistakenly arrests their citizens for being "terrorists". It wasn't that Americans had too much freedom that caused 9/11, but the failure or our so-called "intelligence" agencies.

No, 9/11 didn't hurt Islamic radicals one bit, their mission has been accomplished and accomplished well.