Yes it was and while I think we were not violent enough in Iraq the post SOFA conditions in Iraq were all heading in the right direction until it expired in 2011. Obama, politically motivated, failed to renew an SOFA and abandoned Iraq to his ridiculous hope and change meme, the international version.
There is a reason that we have had troops in Europe, Japan and Korea all these years and the cost of doing that was much less than fighting more wars with German nuts, Japanese nuts and Korean nuts.
The notion of fortress America is a left wing pipe dream embraced by a number of right wingers and libertarians as well. The only thing that prevents jihadists from planning and executing high profile strikes on Americans and American interests is soldiers killing them on a daily basis.
This particular war has been going on for over 1300 years. Tours, the Crusades, Constantinople, Vienna, Khartoum, etc. were all battles in the same war.
Our withdrawal won't end the war, either. It will go on, as before.
Previously, the primitive nature of Muslim culture, mobility and technology has limited their attacks on the West to intermittent outbursts in generally remote locations.
The internet, the airplane and nuclear proliferation have changed all that.
This war isn't going to last another 1300 years. And it's still going to have to be fought -- if western culture is to survive.