As has been said many times before, the "war on terror" makes no sense; terror is an emotion, and attacking an emotion or defending againstan emotion is best left to cognitive-behavioral therapy. In the parlance of CBT, we challenge a possibly irrational emotion (say, "terror") with rational thoughts. "The city where I live has never been a target for terrorrism. The city where I live is not an icon of american expansionism. Most people bring harmless beverages onto planes. Most people wear harmless shoes on planes."
The "homeland security" efforts, the boots-on-the-ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, the reactionary travel policies, the color=fear scale, reinforce the (questionably rational) fear of "terrorism." It actually would be pretty rational to infer a real risk of danger from huge efforts by the government to "protect" us -- if we stipulate that "the government" will behave rationally. Which, sadly, it does not.