So sorry, but your "they'll follow us home" assertion 1) isn't supported by the facts and 2) smacks of appeasement.
You're right ... we have no empirical evidence. We have not yet started a war with an arab country and then run away to see what would happen.
But we do have common sense.
Al Q attacked us before we were in Iraq. They still want to attack us. There are a finite number of suicide bombers/men willing to give their lives for this cause.
It is foolish to think the problem will just go away. I'd say, let's keep funneling thos killers and suicide bomers to Iraq.
Don't you realize that it's our very presence there that's generating the hornets in the first place? Look down at your feet. You're standing on the friggin' "generate hornets" switch.
So sorry, but your "we're responsible for making them kill us" assertion 1) isn't supported by the facts and 2) smacks of appeasement.
Al Q declared war on Americans and attacked us in multiple places, not just the twin towers, before we went to war in Iraq. Read the writing of Osama, look at the suicide attacks that took place, etc.
There were men filled with hatred before the war took place, and even if there are a few more now ... I'd rather our troops fight a 100 terrorists in a foreign land than 10 here. I'd even say 100/1 would be fair.
And just how many American lives are a fair price for your safety? If we feed them...say 100 servicemembers coming home in boxes for your safety, is that a fair price for your temporary safety?
It's not my safety; it's the safety of America overall. And we're not sending American's over there to die, we're sending them over there to fight. There's a significant difference, as Iraq is a war zone and not a Nazi death camp.
I myself would have no problem going over there to fight for my children's future if I were still of army age. If the current soldiers did not join to fight for America, I've got to wonder why they signed on the dotted line.
I'm going to jump into another analogy here: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. How long is it going to take you to hammer this mess back into one piece?
When all you have is a hammer, and there's a job that has to get done or people will die, then you hammer until it's finishd.
War is a pretty crappy tool. But at the moment, for the short term, it's the only tool we have.