The two legitimate choices on the afternoon of 9/11/01 were:
1) Punitive expedition, target Afghanistan. Duration 90 days maximum. Wreck the place, kill women and children more or less randomly, leave with a stern warning of worse to come if any more trouble came out of Kandahar.
2) Raise an expeditionary force of 80-100 divisions and, in alliance with India and Saddam conquer Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Pakistan, eradicate Wahabism and Deobandism, split the oil with Saddam and send American governors to Karachi, Aden, and Riyadh (destroying Islamabad would have been necessary), and staying there until the grandchildren born to children born after 2001 reached majority.
Door #3 - refight the Vietnam War in South Asia - was exceedingly bad. And let me define "refight the Vietnam War" - a) blow up sh*t, b) take casualties to prove we're serious, but c) don't conquer the enemy, to prove we're not mean.
And flood the Poppy fields with Agent Orange.