The mass murderers were Saudis and not Taliban. We are attacking the Taliban in order to show the home folk we are doing something and getting rid of the Taliban has been on our agenda for over a year.
Scapegoating is a hostile social - psychological discrediting routine by which people move blame and responsibility away from themselves and towards a target person or group. It is also a practice by which angry feelings and feelings of hostility may be projected, via inappropriate accusation, towards others. The target feels wrongly persecuted and receives misplaced vilification, blame and criticism; he is likely to suffer rejection from those who the perpetrator seeks to influence. Scapegoating has a wide range of focus: from "approved" enemies of very large groups of people down to the scapegoating of individuals by other individuals. Distortion is always a feature.
Last line in the definition is sooo true. The trouble is 9 out of 10 humans respond to emotional arguments before rational ones. The general masses don't even know it to be the case. Only brainier individuals and those who run the mass media do and act upon it respectively. Should they call you a coward; there is another good read for you.