Leftist “antiwar” commenters replying to the Cold Fury posting noted in an update to Impearls' earlier piece on this subject, deserve a more extensive response in my view than the fisking they got from that blog's regulars (good though that was), so we'll consider the matter more fully here.

“tubino” writes:
Hi, you don't address the CIA report that says the terrorists are beginning to move back to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco…  IOW, the flypaper theory is working about as well as in Afghanistan, terrorist training ground.

Cold Fury's commenter in his turn doesn't address David Warren's point that “they [the terrorists] sooner or later get themselves killed.”  How much experience will the Madrid train bombing suspect who, as the BBC article I linked to reported, recently blew himself up in a suicide bombing in Iraq, carry back to use elsewhere?  And that's now typical for the terrorists (aka “Al Qaeda in Iraq,” as they themselves call themselves).  Half a year ago the insurgents could attack the Iraqi Police in places like Mosul, and the police would flee in disorder.  Now the IP stand their ground, while those trying to attack them are captured and massacred in large numbers.  Attacking Coalition troops is even worse for the jihadists' overall longevity.  Terrorists are reduced to basically launching suicide bombing attacks on helpless civilians.  Coalition troops, on the other hand, are learning and will return with vast experience in coping with them.

“juaniflaco” writes:
This post is wishful thinking, unfortunately.  The US military is playing whack-a-mole in Iraq, and for every one they kill there are 3 more to take their place.  Newsflash: We're losing.

I suggest you go to Iraq so you can recieve your grateful allotment of flower petals.  I here there's direct route from the airport with very little traffic.

The canard that there was no Iraqi gratitude as a result of their liberation following the Saddam Hussein regime's overthrow is latter-day leftist mythologizing, as Christopher Hitchens recently emphasized from his own direct personal experience in Iraq.  Moreover, as Iraqi physician and blogger Ali Fadhil states in the very masthead of his blog Free Iraqi:  “I was not living before the 9th of April and now I am, so let me speak!”  Yep, no gratitude to be found there!

“juaniflaco” would also have us believe that terrorists keep cropping up like the chopped-off heads of Hercules' Hydra — parroting the leftist line that there's no point in killing terrorists in wholesale numbers as the Iraqi and Coalition forces are doing (i.e., we might as well just give up), 'cause “for every one they kill there are 3 more to take their place.”  Nonsense!  There is an end to how many jihadists can flock to Iraq, and the Coalition and free Iraqis can simply keep killing them as long as they do.  Meanwhile, as David Warren perceptively pointed out, the terrorists are not attacking America at home while they're inspired to take the fight to Iraq.

Beyond that, as tubino separately commented:

What are the conditions that give rise to suicide bombers?  Is it religious fanaticism?

Answer: yes.  But he continues, asserting without evidence:

One thing over all: occupation by a foreign power.  Iraq has no history of suicide bombers — till now.

tubino carefully tries to obfuscate the fact that Iraq and Iraqis still have no history of suicide bombing — as essentially all the suicide bombers, according to reports I've seen, are not Iraqis at all, but foreign jihadists who've come into the country to fight the “Great Satan” over there.  But tubino goes on to ask (as if he thinks he knows the answer):

Anyone seen any polling data on how IRAQIS feel about the US being there?

Yes, there is polling data on how Iraqis feel about the Coalition's presence, and guess what: they want us (the Coalition) to stay.  As Omar Fadhil at Iraqi blog Iraq the Model reported here back in May, 2005, “Al-Sabah [newspaper] is conducting a new opinion poll and till no[w] 1590 people have said their opinion about this question:  What is the task Jafari's government has to handle first?”  Selected findings: 

1 — providing security 55.16% (877 votes) […]
3 — [5th in proportionate response –Ed] getting the foreign troops out 4.97% (79 votes) […]

Thus, Iraqis overwhelmingly oppose the Coalition's presence in their country… not!  On the contrary, the conclusion is inescapable that while the presence of Coalition forces is certainly exciting to foreign jihadists, it's not particularly upsetting to the Iraqis themselves.

Beyond that, the idea that Iraq's “occupation by a foreign power,” as tubino puts it, is the primary motivator for the foreign jihadists I believe is wrong (some leftists even like to pretend that the prison camp at Guantanamo is the major draw for terrorists, which is utterly insane).

For those who tend toward this opinion, let me posit this question: what do you suppose is likelier to inspire and draw out terrorists from their hidey-holes throughout the Middle East and world, a huge spectacular victory for their side (the “stronger horse,” as Bin Laden put it) such as thousands of Americans (little demonic representatives of the Great Satan) getting immolated alive on world television, as occurred on September 11, 2001 — or the symbol of terrorist defeat, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, such as Guantanamo and the Coalition's presence in those countries represent?

I submit that the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsing in flames, while tiny figures hurl themselves in despair and horror off into space, was and is the greatest recruiting tool for jihadists imaginable.  The future potentiality of that, and worse, is what fighting the terrorists in Iraq and beyond is intended to foreclose.
 

UPDATE:  2005-06-30 03:15 UT:  Omar at Iraq the Model blog also reports on perhaps a more significant Iraqi poll:

[I]n the National Assembly there are 83 members who signed a declaration where they accused the government of treason because it asked the multinational troops to remain for another year in Iraq and they said that the government ought to demand a timetable for withdrawal and they're also planning to organize protests and rallies to put more pressure on the government.

However, on the streets, such demands are not popular among everyday Iraqis who are more concerned about finding solutions for their daily life problems whether the solutions came form the government, the Americans or from Martians.  As for the other 192 members of the Assembly, they find such demands irrational and inconvenient at least for the time being.

Those 83 Sadrists and Fadhela party members as well as some other Islamists want to embarrass the government and use slogans that sound great and patriotac to undermine the public support the current government enjoys.  This reminds me of the communists and the pan-nationalists back in the 1st half of the 20th century when they demanded the ousting of British troops and the result was a disaster; all they wanted was power and the deterioration didn't end since then.

Omar goes on:

What I want to say here is that it is our fate to fight terrorism on our own land and we (the majority) have accepted to challenge this fate the day we abandoned Saddam and welcomed our freedom but that's not the case for you in America.  Actually we've got no other choice but to fight and keep fighting until we win over the terrorists because otherwise we'll have to submit to their will and the damage would be irreversible.

Fighting terrorism for us in Iraq is a matter of life or death so we have no choice but to keep fighting until we kill or lock in jail every one of them and we're doing this whether the world supported us or not but in case we failed, the consequences will not be confined by Iraq's borders.  You (the west) can step back and wait for the terrorists to knock on your doors at any minute or you can put your s*** together and fight them while they're thousands of miles away.

This is war, it's not a picnic and don't think that we're enjoying it and we're not expecting you to enjoy it either.  By quitting now some might think that needless losses are going to be avoided but that's — in my opinion — is a very shortsighted way of thinking because quitting now will only expose America and the rest of the world to a much greater threat.