Is the War On Terror Still Over?

In light of the bombing of the Boston Marathon, is the War on Terror is still over? After all, in August 2009 the Obama administration announced the U.S. was no longer engaged in a “war on terror,” nor was it any longer pitted against “jihadists.”

Since that announcement, U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan attacked U.S. soldiers in Ft. Hood, TX on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 12 and wounding 32 others. It has been widely reported that the military knew Hasan allegedly had ties to Islamism; victims claimed that if someone acted on that knowledge lives could have been spared.

On Christmas Day 2009, a 23-year old Nigerian student name Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab tried unsuccessfully to detonate a bomb in his underwear aboard Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit. Inspectors say Abdulmutallab had more than 80 grams of PETN, but his detonator either failed or was not the proper type.

In May 2010, a bomb in an SUV was discovered before it ignited in Times Square. Investigators believe the origin of the idea for the bomb plot came from the Pakistani Taliban. 

These were just some of the successful and attempted terror attacks that predated April 15, 2013, the day Chechen brothers with alleged Islamist ties set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and injuring 176.

One of those killed was an eight-year old boy, directly behind whom one of the bombs was set.

Once the suspects of the bombing were identified, the city of Boston was on lock-down until one of the suspects was killed and the other was apprehended. The Boston Marathon Bombing was readily described as an act of terror. 

So, is the War on Terror still over?