ROLLA, Mo. – History will look at the 10 years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a period of “breathtaking American ignorance” on the part of the nation’s leaders, offset by tremendous adaptability among U.S. military personnel, says Dr. John C. McManus, a military historian at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

“From the broader view, the same Wahabbi-oriented terrorists who attacked on 9/11 were actually at war with the United States long before that terrible day,” says McManus, an associate professor of history and political science at Missouri S&T.

McManus believes the struggle dates from the early 1970s when Islamic terrorists began to hijack planes....