The implications for terrorism

A few people have asked, with concern, how the US would cope if an entire city was destroyed by terrorism, in light of what happened in New Orleans.
The truth is that people shouldn't worry so much. I have no doubt that were Osama bin Laden responsible for the devestation in Louisiana, rather than Katrina, enough troops to cope would have been in the city within five seconds flat. The fact is that countries (usually) respond to security threats from the outside with more urgency than to other, entirely equal threats from within -- perhaps because it's seen as an assault on the entire country, perhaps to discourage further attacks through a show of strength, perhaps out of simple defiance. Somewhat similarly, there was also some discussion in Israel of how so many resources were devoted to defeating terrorism at the height of the intifada -- and very little to road safety, by comparison, although more people were killed in horrific car crashes every single month (other than one).