Watching on TV fully fueled airliners crashing into the World trade towers was certainly shocking. Even if it was an accident it would be a horrific event, the fact that it was deliberately planned makes it difficult to understand.
Why would a group of people basically declare war on America? The acts of a psycho such as the unabomber (or serial killers in general) are "somewhat" understandable. Terrorism such as in the UK or Israel is even more understandable.
I think the way of understanding this is not to think of this as person attacking America, it's a cult. It's a cult which happens to have the belief that the US is a evil force. Terrorism usually is "about" changing political leaders' minds. This isn't about changing our mind, it's more about recuiting members for the cult and simply attacking the "enemy".
So this isn't about a nation and their national interests, this is about a cult and I think what we are doing is the correct action- getting national leaders to "pick sides".
I believe this cult leader has made a BIG mistake [which isn't too surprising] and this cult will be destroyed- as long as we continue what we are doing.