Is the United States winning the war on terror? Following Sept. 11, President Bush vowed a global fight against terrorism. Eighteen months later, experts disagree on how it's going.

• Author: Bracken, Paul
• Position: Opinion

YES The U.S. is winning the war on terror. This war has two parts: the protection of the American homeland from attack and the overseas war against terrorists.

Let's take protection of our homeland first. Before Sept. 11 there were few serious obstacles to stop terrorists. The FBI didn't even talk to immigration and border-control authorities. This meant that dangerous people could--and did--just walk right in to the U.S. The airlines managed security themselves. On Sept. 11, all four groups of terrorists breezed through airport security, proving how ineffective it was. Even if the Sept. 11 terrorists had made some big mistakes, they still would have gotten through.

This is all changed now. We'll never be able to stop every single terrorist, but procedural changes since Sept. 11 have closed the major loopholes. Today, U.S. government departments share information--something they seldom did before. The FBI regularly gives lists of suspects to the border-control officials. Airline security is now handled by the government.

Internationally, the U.S. has also made great progress in the war on terror, killing many terrorists and putting others on the defensive. Afghanistan was a hotbed of terrorists who planned attacks against the U.S., thinking that they would be safe from any counterattack. That's no longer true because the U.S. military defeated the terrorists and militant rulers of Afghanistan (the Taliban) who protected them. Osama bin Laden may still be alive, but he's probably hiding in a cave, afraid for his life. The U.S. offensive has put the terrorists on the run.

The key question in the war on terror is, What is the standard of victory? The answer is twofold: denying terrorists the protection of a country like Afghanistan, and making it much more difficult to carry out attacks in the U.S. By this standard, we're doing a good job. We cannot eliminate root causes of terrorism like poverty and injustice--at least not in the next few years. In the meantime, we have to defend our country and our friends against those who would like to destroy us.

PAUL BRACKEN Political Science Professor Yale University NO The war on terror is destined for failure, in part because war is the wrong metaphor. Individuals may be killed and groups may dissolve, but terrorism...