Ounce of prevention

In the ancient Chinese city of Kashgar, near the Afghan border, two men from Portland, Ore., checked into Room 303 of the Chini Bagh Hotel one month after 9/11 and commenced doing chin-ups and planning a jihad. The pair joined four other Portland-area Muslims attempting to unite with al-Qaeda and the Taliban to wage a "holy war" against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Their plans crumbled when Chinese officials closed the border, but the men regrouped in Portland to research attacks on American soil, including possible hits on Jewish synagogues.

Nearly four years later, the terrorist cell known as the "Portland Seven" is dismantled, with six members behind bars for conspiracy to commit war against the United States. (A seventh died in a Pakistani raid on an al-Qaeda training camp.) Justice Department officials credit the Patriot Act with enabling law enforcement to track, monitor, and arrest the five men and one woman who spoke with an FBI undercover informant about making bombs and "cutting off the heads of unbelievers."