The thinking public now realizes that full scale fighting the jihadists in the ME will not keep them from our shores.
Actually what you describe is the UN-THINKING public's conclusion.
I will remind them that Iraq was relatively stable when Obama took office.
Fighting in Iraq kept things pretty stable until BO took charge.
How'd he screw it up, huh?
What we need to refocus our efforts on is not just denying radicals a safe haven from where they can mpount attacks on America and elsewhere, but to making their country a haven of Liberty so those who yearn to breathe free can do so there without them coming here to do their free breathing.
Just like Disneyland built Disney World in FL then they built Disney Europe and Disney Asia.
Those who want the Disney magic don't have to travel as far.
Creating an oasis of Liberty in Iraq is a worthy goal.
And so what if we needed to have our troops stationed there for 50 years until it is truly stable?
We have retained a significant military presence in Japan and Germany since WW!! and there has been no return to militarism by our former foes.
We have maintained a significant military presence in South Korea and they have stayed peaceful since the Korean War.
So, when John McCain talked about keeping troops in Iraq for the next 50 years to maintain the peace long enough for Liberty to become entrenched a lot of reactionaries and no-nothings on the Left freaked out.
When the reality of the situation is that stationing our troops there for the next 50 years is par for the course. It would have been a way of insuring our hard won progress.
But now, with BO, things couldn't be worse than they currently are.
And UN-thinking folks like yourself can draw the mistaken conclusion that our fighting was ineffective.