There's one big problem with that mindset, however. The truth is that the troops, through what they're doing over there, are indirectly destroying our country, our rights and freedoms, our safety and security, and our economic well-being.

Ever since 9/11 and even before, the troops have been killing and maiming people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, and elsewhere in the Middle East. The numbers of people killed and maimed reach into the hundreds of thousands. Only a very tiny minority of those who have been killed or maimed had anything to do with 9/11 attacks. Most of the people killed or maimed just wanted to rid their lands of U.S. troops and U.S. bureaucrats or just happened to be near someone who was being targeted by the troops.

All that killing, maiming, torture, humiliation, and destruction has made people in that part of the world angry at the United States. A certain percentage of them have decided to respond with violence in the form of terrorism.