Those directly responsible for the attacks died in the act. They cannot be targeted. But defining an enemy beyond the hijackers takes the United States into a conceptual swamp. Washington could choose to target Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, but he is only one actor in an amorphous and transnational religious political movement.

The United States can hardly declare war on militant Islam without targeting or destabilizing countries with which it needs to remain on good terms. Moreover, launching such a campaign opens the United States up to further acts of terrorism. Before directly challenging militant Islam, Washington must either determine what terrorist assets remain in the country, neutralize them, and seal the borders, or it must settle into a state of domestic siege. If militant Islam is declared the enemy, how could the United States achieve or even define victory?