You don't think we are at war (or, if we are, we ought to be at war with Saidi Arabia?).

We are not at war. And trying to fight this as if it was a war is part of the problem. Broad social movements can not be defeated by armies, short of outright genocide.

Terrorism is a criminal problem and should be treated as such. Doing anything else is giving in to the terrorist.
But we did not fight in the right way. Smashing Hussein had been the easy part. We could have done it in 91. It's what happened next that killed us. The way the Iraqi War was conducted is a huge disgrace on Bush and Co. I would call it a treason, but stupidity and hubris explains it better.

Was there a better way? Yes, certainly. Openly declare to the whole world what we are doing. Tell everyone who would listen that we're out to help those who like us and to hurt those that don't, no matter what the state of the relevant WMD programs.

In the long run that won't help either, just leave us with another set of problems. Just supporting countries that support us will create a bunch more Egypts and Uzbekistans. Countries where the ruling powers support us, but a big chunk of the underclass hates us.

Taking the long view, what we really should be doing is supporting real democratic governments, even if the current government doesn't like us. Get them engaged in the global commerce system. Help them raise their standard of living. None of these things will directly stop the problem, but they will reduce the forces that support and create terrorists. Think of it as social dampening rods.

Jay