Evaluating the War on Terror

A War on Terror was officially declared by U.S. President George W. Bush on 20 September 2001. Has it made the U.S. and international populations more or less safe?

Foreign and domestic aspects of the War on Terror are examined separately in this article using the broad political discourse template.

Foreign policy and the War on Terror
Two aspects of foreign policy are considered here:
 * 1) Whether states that receive more assistance from the U.S. are more or less democratic than ones that receive less.
 * 2) Whether the War on Terror has increased or decreased the risk of Blowback from nations with substantive U.S. military occupation.

Domestic policy and the War on Terror
Has Homeland Security increased safety for the residents of the U.S. in two areas:
 * 1) Do the activities of Homeland Security pose a bigger threat to most U.S. citizens than al-Qaeda and other non-state terrorist organizations?  The public support for Edward Snowden suggests that many people are questioning whether the information being collected by the National Security Agency and various branches of Homeland Security might on average pose a bigger threat to law-abiding citizens than non-state terrorists, with a chilling effect on democratic participation
 * 2) Might the public benefit more if that money were spent in other ways, e.g., for public health?