The problem Sir is that we have always been tightly wound even before 9/11 or before Bush No. 1 and Bush No. 2. I cannot figure it out. I think it may come from feeling that Americans have something to prove. Does that theory come across as the Bully in the School Yard, a Policing Nation or as a Concerned Neighbor? I think as to the rest of the world it comes across and 1 and 2 of the three options. Maybe if the U.S. of A sat back and allowed others to handle their own problems we would 1) have a better handle on our own problems (hello and happy birthday Katrina victims); 2) not be universally hated by most other countries; 3) not waste billions of dollars trying to drag a country out of something that their own people do not want help out of (the list of this crap could go on for pages ... but you get my point).
Well, we seem to be pissing off everyone we try to help, so yeah, I'm all for just kicking back and not being the World Police.