9/11 boosted the GOP quotient of military involvement, to be sure. My dad died during Reagan’s reign.
I’d call the 9/11 answer by GWB a war that might have been for a good reason, but had some fatal premises folded into it. The standard template for a US conquest was to make the conquered territory into a democracy. That works fine in the Western world or even the far East (because of faiths, if not Christian, then of Buddhism and similar pacifist philosophies). But for an Islamic people? They need a stern monarchy. A democracy suits them like a bicycle suits a fish.
Islamic people are really DIFFERENT.
GWB made the mistake of believing, “All souls yearn for freedom.” He did not realize the Islamists yearn for destruction and death.