When No One Is Truly Safe

Yet the tactic may backfire. The Saudi bombings pushed the complacent royal regime to crack down hard. In the past six months, Saudi police say they have foiled at least four plots, including a threat against the Holy Mosque in Mecca and a plan to assassinate leading Saudi writers and intellectuals who oppose Islamic extremism. More than 400 arrests have produced a wealth of information showing how al-Qaeda is honeycombed throughout the kingdom. Police raids have uncovered explosives, caches of rifles and operational necessities like computers, cell phones, counterfeit passports and disguises. Officers even found a stash of dresses and wigs used by terrorists to impersonate women, who generally pass through checkpoints without being searched. Now Turkish security forces, known for their no-nonsense methods, will make it difficult for militants who are thought to have used Turkey as a transfer point for personnel and money flowing between Europe and the Middle East. The Islamist-leaning party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is under intense pressure from Turkey's political opposition and secular establishment to prove it can get tough on terrorists. "Turkey," he said, "will be like a fist."

For all their efforts elsewhere, jihadists haven't forgotten their ultimate battleground — the U.S. Late last week the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued another of their vague public warnings about possible threats. Privately, they say incoming intelligence reports are loaded with talk that al-Qaeda remnants are intent on pulling off another spectacular event. Officials believe such an attack is more likely to occur on U.S. interests abroad, simply because it's easier to assemble the weapons, explosives, vehicles and foot soldiers outside the U.S. But no one dares rule out attacks within the country. FBI agents were quietly contacting local police forces around the nation last week, warning them to step up vigilance around "critical infrastructure" targets, iconic structures and events that draw large crowds.

The FBI believes that up till now, the U.S. has escaped a second wave of attacks because bin Laden and his inner circle reserved the country for themselves. Officials say Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, once al-Qaeda's main planner, has told interrogators the leaders micromanaged the 9/11 plot, tweaking and critiquing the evolving plan until they were sure it would come off as awesome and unforgettable. But current intelligence indicates that the remaining al-Qaeda ringleaders aren't calling the shots anymore. Even in the U.S., the international jihad movement seems free to pull off whatever it has the means and opportunity to do.

And as Turkey learned last week, it's hard to beat the devastating power of the simple suicide bomb. That's all it took to send Gozde Ciftlik, a dark-haired woman in her early 20s, rushing to Istanbul's Taksim Hospital to look for her father Ismail, a security guard at the British consulate. When she saw his name on the list of fatalities, she spoke for terrorism victims everywhere. "Damn you," she shouted, "whoever did this."