Word: islamist
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...defusing the jihadist threat. "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives but they're a nuisance," Kerry said in an interview in 2004, drawing a parallel with the containment of prostitution, illegal gambling and organized crime. But Islamist terrorism was a much more imminent threat than climate change (Gore's bugaboo) and a much more serious threat than illegal gambling. In the wake of 9/11, defeating the terrorists had to be America's No. 1 priority. Bush understood this. Had it not been for the Iraq debacle...
...take long, however, for 9/11 to lose the look of a truly earth-shattering event. It was, after all, scarcely a revelation that radical Islamist organizations like al-Qaeda posed a threat to the U.S.; they had tried to blow up the World Trade Center once before. Nor did 9/11 cause the severe economic disruption its plotters had intended. The attacks were spectacular, as bin Laden had hoped. Yet for most people--save the relatives of those killed--life returned to normal in a surprisingly short time...
With the rise of these rivals came one benefit: as time passed, the once hated Great Satan was no longer everybody's favorite whipping boy. Since the U.S. presence in the Middle East had wound down after 2008, it was no longer obvious why Islamist terrorists would expend their energies attacking American cities. That was why, by the 30th anniversary of 9/11, many younger Americans looked back on that event as a strange aberration...
...adoption of fuel-cell engines by the U.S. automobile industry, combined with a new generation of ultrasafe nuclear power plants, effectively ended America's century-long addiction to oil. The application of nanotechnology to homeland security allowed 24/7 surveillance of Islamist suspects by minuscule drones and invisible implants...
...sure, many Islamist terrorists have come from well-off, integrated families. But the U.S. Muslim community is less likely to breed disaffection, because it is extremely diverse. In fact, it is probably the most diverse in the world, hailing from many parts of the globe, speaking numerous languages and practicing several different versions of Islam. This makes it less likely that any one group will dominate and more likely that each subgroup will adapt to its new surroundings...