How do we know? Terror on board the Achille Lauro, Pan Am 879 and the near constant bombing of buses and shopping malls in Israel were examples of a relatively small number of fatalities by muslim terrorists. In Iraq, there are two or three suicide bombings a day killing dozens at a time.

Bring that kind of fanatacism over here and there will be increased scrutiny of everything that Americans do from running (unless you are in a supervised, approved athletic facility) to carrying a bag onto the subway.

Remember the days after 9/11 when you could not approach an airport in a car without having to have the trunk and passenger compartment inspected?

My point is that Al-Quaeda is a convenient brand for a bunch of loosely coupled killers and thugs. They may want to bring down a 747 for the shock value, but smaller events would forever change the way we do things.

The shock value of a 747 crashing would be huge, but the terrorists are really sticking it to the traveling public with the "liquid ban" alone. . .