I agree with the main point of your post and was going to make a post pointing out this very fact, until I saw yours.

Terrorism became a problem in Iraq as a direct result of our actions, let's not forget that. We squandered a number of years in that country precisely because we didn't know what we were doing and how to relate to the people of Iraq. We're doing better, but the war is a long way from won and Iraq is still largely a mess. Let's not complicate things by rewriting the narrative and motives of the invasion.