Terrorists love anniversaries, counter-terrorism experts have told me.

So based on previous incidents on anniversaries over the years, U.S. Law enforcement, intelligence and security personnel were on high alert in anticipation of a possible terrorist attack on U.S. soil on the 2^nd anniversary of the September 11^th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Fortunately, nothing happened, which I think we can claim as a victory in the war on terrorism. Although there have been several attacks on U.S. citizens and interests overseas, our government has thwarted any and all attacks here in America so far. As Time Magazine noted in its September 22^nd issue, President Bush responded to the September 11^th attacks by launching the United States on an unprecedented campaign to rid the world of terrorism. The campaign involved the combined efforts of the military, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, the intelligence community and nearly every government department in the country. The campaign also included many of our allies around the world.

Robert S. Mueller, III, the director of the FBI, offered a broad look at the war on terrorism while speaking at the Border Terrorism Conference in San Antonio, Texas on September 8^th. The city is home to the Alamo, which is perhaps a fitting place for a modern-day rallying call, "Remember 911."

According to the FBI, Mueller told the conference that Al-Qaeda is, operationally, financially and structurally, a diminished terrorist organization. One largely untold post-9/11 story, Mueller said, is terrorist financing. He informed the conference that the FBI, Customs and Treasury have dried up sources of funding from terrorist "false front" businesses and charities worldwide. The money trail leads law enforcement from one terrorist group to another and has helped to prevent attacks. Mueller also noted that we have dismantled Al-Qaeda’s "core leadership."

"The running list of high-level operatives killed or captured since 9/11 reads like a who’s who of terrorism," Mueller said. "Mohammed Atef, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Binalshibh, and one of Al-Qaeda’s highest ranking operatives, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed."

"The latest figure to be tracked down is an individual by the name of Hambali," Mueller added. "Hambali was Al-Qaeda’s chief operative in Southeast Asia and is someone we believe was the architect of the Bali bombing last fall and the attack in Jakarta last month."

Mueller went on to say that although most of the successes have been overseas, there were successes at home as well. He said the FBI and other U.S. agencies have "rolled up" a number of terrorist cells from Buffalo to Detroit, and most recently, in New Jersey, where a British arms dealer was caught up in a sting operation. He was arrested for trying to sell shoulder-fired missiles to undercover agents.

"The cumulative result of these successes – and many others that will probably never be made public – is a terrorist organization on the run," Mueller concluded.

At another terrorism conference, the Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, told the attendees that Americans understand that the war on terrorism will be long and expensive, but they will stay the course.

Speaking before the Defense Worldwide Combating Terrorism Conference in Alexandria, Virginia on Sept 25^th, Rumsfeld noted that Americans want to live freely and were willing to pay the price to do so. According to the Defense Department, Rumsfeld told the gathered anti-terrorism experts that in response to the 9/11 attacks, a vast coalition of some 90 nations came together to combat international terrorism.

Rumsfeld said that since the attack, joint operations among the Army, Navy, the Marine Corp, the Air Force and the Coast Guard have removed dangerous regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We really have two choices," Rumsfeld said. "We can either deal with the threats in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world – the Horn of Africa, Asia – or we can wait and eventually deal with them at home."

"There is no easy, comfortable middle ground," he added.

I recall attending an international security conference in Philadelphia on the 1st anniversary of 9/11, which I covered in an earlier Crime Beat column. One of the speakers, a retired U.S. General, said that the war on terrorism, like the war on crime, may never end.

Although the war on terrorism may never end, we can still win all of the battles. As an old Navy man, I like to repeat the old Navy expression that Rumsfeld, an old Navy pilot, used at the Defense Department anti-terrorism conference - we have to stay the course.