"The purpose of terror is to terrify." --- Lenin

It's no small irony that Osama bin Laden unknowingly agreed with Lenin, an avowed atheist. 

9/11 did terrify America, but America's revenge was as swift as its recovery. 

By all measures, post-9/11 America remains the sole global superpower. That being said, America has learned that might is not necessarily right. To get it right, America had better apply its might wisely. That's why so many Americans questioned the wisdom of the 2003 Iraq war. With the majority of voters wanting America to be mighty right, America also cares more about minorities. That's why Muslims feel so free to practice their religion in public. Sporadic hate crimes did occur, though. What really counts is this: America goes on being a metropolis of ethnic neighborhoods, a nation of all nationalities, and a land of law. Being inclusive, the American Dream stays alive.

To the Beijing regime, 9/11 was and still is a convenient excuse to ostracize Uighurs religiously and culturally. It is neither fair nor humane to hold a minority race responsible for its individual members' terrorist acts. But then, Chinese are no strangers to state terror, past and present. Following Lenin to a tee, the Beijing regime must think that state terror is equivalent to state security. Indeed, it would stop at nothing to terrify its innocent victims.

China may be invulnerable to a 9/11-like attack, but Chinese immigrants keep coming to America.

--- Lingyang Jiang