Maybe for the majority of Americans, but not to us in NYC. While 9/11 was not “combat” in the strictest sense, the human costs were ENTIRELY visible. I watched it with my own eyes. I saw the death of my friends. It took my daughter all day to get home and she brought some co-workers with her who couldn’t get home at all.
My students and colleagues were in hysteria all day because many had family who worked in the WTC. We most certainly ARE speaking of civilians.
I’d been to the WTC many times in the past, and since 9/11 I’ve been several times to the memorial.
I know Bin Laden was Saudi, not Iranian, but Iran has sponsored terror as well.
So I may not have witnessed the American Civil War, but what I did see that day WAS a war against America.
You watch people jumping from 100 stories up, you watch 220 stories of buildings collapse, you have dust and objects from the WTC land on your car and your terrace as I did, and you cannot say it is abstract for all of us.
My opinion because I lived through it.