ABSTRACT
America has had its share of horror, violence, incomprehension, despair, and fear since the early morning hours of September 11, 2001. From the initial terrorist attacks to the “anthrax scare,” from a war in Afghanistan to a military invasion of Iraq, the landscape of American politics both at home and abroad has been dominated by the feeling that disaster, terror, and death can strike at any moment.
Politicians, religious leaders, media pundits, and academics have openly stated that, since 9/11, terror and terrorism have caught up with America. But what it means to say that terror and terrorism have caught up with America is not as obvious as it may seem. It is not simply meant to acknowledge that alien forces, unclear and shadowy enemies from beyond the land, have attacked, destroyed, and reshuffled America’s sense of stability, certainty, security, control, and cultural normalcy. What is meant when so many public voices argue that terror has caught up with America is that, now, after such a visual shock and defeat, with such a glaring sense of national loss, America and Americans themselves will have to be part of the terror and of the new war that will bear terror’s name.
