United we stood. Today, as we approach the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, the centrifugal forces tearing apart our civic and political fabric reflect a tragic irony: We are doing to ourselves what al Qaeda could only dream of doing itself.

Following the 9/11 attacks, al Qaeda hoped a terrorized, divided, and indebted United States would lose the political will required to pursue its strategic interests in the Middle East. Al Qaeda did not fulfill its deadliest post-Sept. 11 ambitions. Today, we can be proud of the exceptional job we have done defending ourselves against external threats for the past 25 years.