The war on terrorism has failed from the perspective of decent human beings, but from the perspective of those who directly profit from it---governments, politicians, defense contractors, etc, etc---, it's a great success and that is the problem. It does nothing to keep the population safe and everything to enrich the powers that be. Personally, while I am concerned about the increasing levels of terror attacks, I am still far more wary of government oppression and tyranny----that is the real threat. In fact, far more people have perished at the hands of their own government than by terrorists.