Reflections on 9/11 - John Brady Kiesling

The hypnotic television footage of the Twin Towers collapsing.. horrified [the international community] no less than it horrified Americans. But they were nervous; America was a wounded elephant. Would we trample the world flat in pursuit of our flee-sized tormentors? ..[M]ost Europeans were anxious to calm us down and prevent a clash of civilizations with their Muslim neighbors.

[T]he murder of 2800 innocent people erased the legitimacy that Al Queda's suicidal bravery was supposed to win them with ordinary Muslims. [It had been a gross miscalculation.] After 9/11 no reasonable US request would be refused [anywhere in the world]. ..It never occurred to me America would choose to behave like a wounded elephant..
"Diplomacy Lessons, Realism for an Unloved Superpower", by John Brady Kiesling, pp 13,14