I think true competence of this subject matter is having the ability to comprehend that "it was an accident" or "they started it" score zero points. Simple minds wail for simple framings of deeply complicated situations, and Americans chose to elect simple minds. I think the U.S. has grappled for a long time with the growing chorus of simple mindedness, volunteering itself for wars that ultimately serve no outcome other than further destabilization. The tragedy of simple minds is their being unable to learn from these mistakes, let alone identify them as mistakes.

To put more simply: it doesn't matter what logic or reasoning there is. There are real, tangible consequences to killing 150 children with a cruise missile. The tragedy will be when simple minds understand those consequences as little more than, "it's because they're subhuman terrorists who hate America."