The events of last weekend in Britain show why the West has the institutions and will to continue to battle terrorism.

Why are so many of us surprised at the lack of intelligence displayed by terrorists like those who attacked Britain this weekend?

Personal and Intellectual History

Alan Johnson: You were raised in a devoutly socialist family in the 1950s, and spent your adolescence running the US young socialist movement in the 1960s and early 1970s. As an adult you have been a leading figure in the neoconservative movement. People will assume a single rupture was involved in...