Not if, but when

Since 9/11, that's been the mantra of security experts on the likelihood of another terrorist attack. I heard it again this morning on NPR, along with a variety of opinions to the effect that the Iraq war has made the world a more dangerous place.

But here's the thing: It hasn't happened--yet. And let's be grateful for that.

We've spent way too much time over the past five years on recriminations. Let's stop that for a moment, to quote the great James Lileks:

I’ll tell you this: if I ran Time magazine, I wouldn’t have run a cover story titled “What We’ve Lost.”

What We’ve Done, perhaps. Who We Are. Why We Fight. What They Want. But “What We’ve Lost”?

I expected many things five years ago, but an epitaph in the face of survival wasn’t among them. Of course, when you recall the post 9 /11 cover "Why They Hate Us," you do have a nice set of bookends. Forgive me if I've little time to reread the tomes bracketed between those sentiments. Today is what it is. Tomorrow, however, requires our attention.