In the days and weeks following Tuesday’s disastrous attacks against the United States, we will hear from various world leaders, politicians, pundits, and journalists about what happened on Tuesday, who were the perpetrators, and how they were so successful. However, the glaring omission has been and will continue to be,” Why?”

What has the United States done to make itself this kind of target? Why do some people hate the U.S. enough to commit an atrocity such as this? Are these events the harvest of seeds we have sown through our actions? How can we create the conditions that will reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of terrorist recruitment from other countries?

These questions have to be answered if we truly want to prevent terrorism from escalating even further. Finding these answers will require long hard looks at our own foreign-policy decisions and the intentions of our leaders. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.