"...Then the terrorists have won."

This exceedingly well-reasoned paper (at the Cato Institute's website) points out in even-handed detail that:

1. The statistical risk of falling victim to a terrorist attack is miniscule


2. Alarmist caterwauling notwithstanding, chem/bio/nuclear tech is unlikely to change this


3. We do ourselves much more damage overreacting to overblown threats than the terrorists ever could

If ever there were a thinking person's rebuttal to Homeland Security hysteria and the rationale for war...this would be it.