World War II began in fall of 1939, the US entered some 2+ years later. After this much time had elapsed, our forces were barely winning their FIRST engagements of the war and it was 3 more years until the war ended in the summer of 1945 ...
Our adversaries at the time were nation states and their borders and forces clearly defined ... our adversaries in this new war are, by and large, NOT nation states, they have no borders and their forces are elusive and quite difficult to define.
Are we SO acclimated by TV where we're accustomed to seeing all problems solved in 30-60 minutes that we naively believe this vastly more difficult challenge to be accomplished in a small window of time??? Do large #'s of people in this country REALLY believe that we can somehow 'make nice' with these terrorists and their supporters and get together for a rousing chorus of Kumbaya ???
Reality is all too painfully obvious ... no one among us WANTS war ... no one WANTS to spend the lives or resources in such a way, but the reality was forced upon us by our enemies ...
Frankly, I'm extraordinarily grateful that we had the good fortune to elect a President who, with his advisors, sees the harsh reality of the situation and is willing to do more than utter some empty rhetoric about not resting until the guilty parties are brought to justice, then taking no steps to accomplish that.