911 and Revenge?

Henry Neufeld’s recent post has a common but fundamental misunderstanding of the reaction to 9/11 and the subsequent actions, which included Afghanistan and Iraq.  Revenge had little to do with it. As one who has support both actions, and continue to do so, revenge has never entered into my thinking, not in my writings at the time, which unfortunately were on a site which has since closed down, nor in a multi-part reappraisals written during one of the most difficult time on Should We have Gone? and Should We Leave?  While revenge probably has been a factor for some, I do not believe it has been a major factor, or even a significant factor for these policies.  

Frankly the main justification was found in a different answer to the question Henry asked about the safety of his family and the country.  I do believe those efforts as painful and difficult as they are did in fact make us safer.  I also believe that the current weakening of those efforts by the administration is rapidly undermining the small gains we have made and thereby putting us at much greater risk.

In short I do not believe these were acts of revenge but battles in a larger War on Terror.  I agree that as Christians we should not be acting on revenge, but I just do think that revenge as played a significant role in our actions.