What's really scarry is that unlike the 4 times this has happened in the past, there is no defined enemy this time. This is a "war" on an abstract concept. And in doing so, our government has just become an instrument of terror:
Terrorism \Ter"ror*ism\, n. [Cf. F. terrorisme.]
1. The act of terrorizing, or state of being terrorized; a
mode of government by terror or intimidation. --Jefferson.
[1913 Webster]