While I certainly agree that vicotry would curb jihadism, and I certainly agree that we must win this war, there is one thing that upsets me about this "we're fighting them over there not over here" mentality:

The people of Iraq did not ask for this. We took their country from bad to worse with a poorly planned invasion and an incompetent rebuilding strategy. Every time an Iraqi dies, be it at the hands of the coalition, the insurgents or sectarian death squads, we run the risk of losing a few more fence sitters to the side of the badguys. Yet this pompous idea of "better to trash someone elses country than risk a hypothetical trashing of our own" is the LAST thing we need to be trumping to the country we are trying to save. It really does make me sick.

Aside from being one of the "reasons" for the war that didn't start regularly appearing until some of the other "reasons" weren't washing with the public, its a line of reasoning that makes me ashamed of my fellow citizens sometimes; what an incredible display of greed and detachment from humanity

I know, I know: countries don't have friends, they have interests, right? If we're on the top, better to stay there at all costs, right? America first, right?

The fact is, we have to win this war. With reasons for war like the one stated above, history would judge us very, very poorly were we to lose.