is anyone actually afraid of terrorists?

I was reading the paper the other day, and in it there was an article about the war in Iraq, and how much longer our military would be involved. In the article Condoleeza Rice was quoted as saying something to the effect of "If we leave now, then we are giving the terrorists exactly what they want" (not an exact quote, but it was essentially what she said). Does that seem a bit idiotic to anyone else? First of all, what terrorists? and second of all, if the majority of US citizens no longer back this war (or this administration, Bush's approval rating is less than 40%), and want these soldiers out of there, shouldn't that be enough reason to bring them home? To quote The Art of War, "Weapons are instruments of ill omen, to be used only when it is unavoidable."