Just to play devil's advocate here, shouldn't our safety be enhanced if we were able to bring about what is best for them? How do we know what is best for them? We believe democracy is best, but we cannot know that without recourse to philosophy, shared values, etc. This argument breaks down into a "do what we say because we're right", precisely what seems to be pissing off a number of the non-electorate in some of these countries.
I do not think we could occupy the problematic nations. We couldn't afford it and they would fight tooth and nail.
I do think, however, that there is a problem no one wants to think about. What if the Muslim nations decided that this planet isn't big enough for themselves and the West and the West must be destroyed. I heard on European Journal on PBS an interview with some muslim idiot in Britain who claimed this was the proper outlook for all right-thinking Muslims. What does the West do in this instance where unremitting war to the death has been declared upon it, its people, and its religions? The Noam Chomsky's of the world would have us declare defeat with honor and commit suicide claiming we made them do it. But how do we survive ourselves without killing most of them, throwing what we like to think of as our western values out the window in the process?