if what was previously termed al qaeda-in-iraq was, in fact, what it claimed to be, why have we wasted the past 7 years fighting al qaeda anywhere instead of engaging them in financial negotiations
You are perhaps not realising the seriousness of the situation. In fact you don't seem to understand the war at all.
It's not about failing to buy off the terrorists. Al-Qaeda are blowing up mosques in Iraq. If they wanted money, they would simply keep the oil money Bin Laden brought into the organisation and not waste resources on terrorism at all. But that's not what they want.
You cannot "negotiate"" with them, not when they still think they have a chance to hurt us/Jews/Shiites/Iraqis/anyone.
Did you even read the article I linked to?
It's not about ten dollars a day.
It's about walking down the street without needing Peshmerga soldiers standing around. It's about praying in a mosque without fearing that Al-Qaeda decide to blow it up. It's about driving from Erbil to Suleimaniya without passing four or five checkpoints. It's about having electricity all day without having terrorists blow up pylons somewhere. It's about building an irrigation system that is not designed to dry up the lands inhabited by Shiites.
I really think you totally misunderstand the situation. You totally don't get the seriousness of the situation.
It's not about money. It's about a military presence that stops the terrorists (and/or Baath loyalists) from taking over the country again.
Iraqis think that Obama cares only about America.
I think Obama cares only about himself.
If Obama withdraws the troops, Iraq will turn back into what it was before 2003. Baath loyalists are already rebuilding a militia in Tikrit. And Abu Ghraib will become unknown again. They will have ten thousands executions per year again, but nobody will tell you about them. And Obama will be happy. And that's what I am afraid of.