Americans think that they are the salt of the earth. The hubris that comes from this self-righteous belief makes Americans blind to the evil of their leaders.
It's not that our leaders are evil, nor that we are. It's just that any attempt to help people who don't want our help is ultimately doomed to failure. We can't assume that "of course, they want the freedoms we have" and then try to give them those freedoms at gunpoint. Oppressed peoples have to see our example and achieve it themselves if they want it...with our help if they ask. But even if, say, a couple million educated Iranians would love having the 101st Airborne drop into their backyards tomorrow, the tens of millions of backward peasants that strongly support the Mullahs make such a well-intentioned action foolish at best.
None of this means we can't play defense on the opponent's turf - including using ground forces where needed. It's just that we need to remember a lesson we seem to have forgotten after 9/11: that nation-building tends to be a very bad idea.
Not at all, look at Japan and Germany.