Hmmm, then that was a sincere statement that you thought demonstrated respect? I must have overestimated you as well.
If I had meant to be disrespectful, I would have said something along the lines of "Did the 1983 suicide truck bombing of the 8th Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 troops while you were serving as a military intelligence analyst for 1st Marines make you even less suspicious for the likelihood for potential terrorist attacks?"
I understand your point with people jumping to alarmist conclusions -- and I have my own reservations, as I noted before -- but I think you're going too far in the opposite extreme in thinking that 'the terrorist just want us to be scared' when they've proven many times that they're perfectly capable of carrying out operations both here and abroad.
It shouldn't be the trait of an intelligence analyst to be so patently dismissive, but maybe the Marines were just trying to make me paranoid by constantly bombarding me with 'Loose Lips Sink Ships' and 'Boris Is Watching' propaganda when I served.