More on Balancing our Freedoms with the Matter of Dealing with Terrorism. There are some interesting comments on the Gingrich post below. (I never know what will provoke discussion, and it's interesting to see what does.)

The discussion reminds me of what my criminal law professor, Norval Morris, said about the crime rate. He said that the optimum crime rate is not zero. He said that to get to zero, one would need a police state.

Would he say, then, that the optimum terrorism rate is not zero? If it is not zero, then what is it? A 9/11 every so often? Is the terrorism rate in Baghdad not optimal, but the terrorism rate in London about right?

Many would answer the Morris proposition by pointing out that we are not dealing with criminal activity. We are dealing, rather, with a sort of warfare. We have always suspended civil liberties to one extent or another during war. Then we win the war and, thereafter, restore those liberties, and luxuriate in regret.