Too Many Wars; Too Many Deaths; No Purpose.
I’m Done. No more getting involved in foreign “adventures” that never end. We had two decade long wars, one that should have been much shorter, the other should not have started at all, that do not appear to be ending well. Each of these misadventures only seems to lead to more difficult choices, more “strategic bombings,” more troops and money, and more American deaths.
How about letting them work it out? The Iraq War — which we were were told would take a maximum of six months and lead to democracy throughout the Middle East — has metastasized into Syria and is really a continuation of the Sunni-Shia dispute. The Sunnis and the Shiites believe it or not are continuing the fight, started in the 7th Century, over Muhammad’s successors as caliph. Seriously, do we have a dog in this fight? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Remember Vietnam? We were told that if we let Vietnam fall, all of Asia will become another Communist Cold War ally of the Russians. Ultimately, we did let the Vietnamese work it out. First, it fell to the Communists. But after some internecine fights, Vietnam is now a capitalist bastion exporting clothes and electronics to the U.S. They made their own choices, without us as a factor.
By contrast, our involvement in the Middle East has only destabilized the region and exacerbated the problems. GWB disbanded the Iraqi Army, creating a sea of unemployed, armed, angry, militarily-trained Sunnis who fought against us for a decade. So then we had to build up a new Iraqi Army, which, when ISIS recently attacked, instead of fighting, gave up their American arms to ISIS, effectively arming the enemy. Each new step creates new unforeseen complications.
Who would come to power if we got rid of ISIS and Assad? Remember, we created al-Qaeda by arming the mujahideen in Afghanistan because they were fighting the Russians. How’d that work out? Some believe we’ve done the same thing with ISIS. http://www.motherjones.com/... Ultimately, we have no idea who would take over if we got rid of the bad guys. We could get worse guys. http://www.creators.com/... (something is odd in the world when I’m agreeing with Pat Buchanan).
And for what? Let’s face it, other than Israel, the only reason we care about the Middle East is oil. The first Iraq war was about oil. Then-Secretary of State James Baker said so. http://www.pbs.org/.... The Second Iraq War [Dubya’s] was just a continuation of the first. So we’ve spent 20 years, five thousand American deaths, several trillion dollars [with more to come as we take care of the injured veterans], to try to keep oil prices low.
If you’re thinking “what about the horrible dictators?” Face it, we wouldn’t care about Saddam Hussein, Bashar Assad, or Muammar Kaddafi if they didn’t have oil or threaten their neighbors who do. Does anyone even know about the horrible things going on right now in the Central African Republic? No - because they have no oil. http://www.aljazeera.com/...
Imagine, if instead, in 1991 or even 2002, instead of starting or renewing the war in Iraq, we spent a trillion or two putting up windmills, and solar panels on every roof and over every parking lot and garbage dump in America. Today, we’d all be riding around in electric cars powered by pollution-free electricity and not give a hoot about the Sunnis and the Shias.
But what if ISIS or the Taliban re-take Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria and use it as a base to attack us? While certainly a possible outcome, the bottom line is that we can’t stop crazy people from organizing to attack us. We can’t take over the whole world. They’ve already re-organized in Yemen and Pakistan. So it wouldn’t seem to me to add much to also have Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. The bottom line is that crazy people will find a launch point to try to attack us. The best defense is military preparedness and good intelligence. And if we’re not buying their oil, their coffers will dry up and our presence in the Middle East will be reduced leaving less of a reason for them to attack us.
Besides, with us not there, they won’t have a common enemy to rally support against. Just wait until ISIS takes over Iraq and Syria and can’t supply basic necessities like electricity and water. Without us there, ISIS’ popularity will shrink with every head they sever. ISIS, which is largely Sunni, not only hates us, but hates the Shia. So they will continue to fight each other for another generation, and not have much need come after us if we’re not there.
Ask yourself this question: would I send my son or daughter to fight these animals? If the answer is no, then you too recognize that the fight is not worth it.
Ultimately, they have to work it out. It will take one or more generations, but our presence just complicates the process, and delays them working it out. They can continue to slaughter each other to prove who is the better successor to Muhammad, or they can realize that beheadings and constant fighting leaves them poor, uneducated with no hope for their or their children’s future. Either way, we should stay out of it. The first step is getting our military out of there. The second step is to find alternative sources of energy so we are not hostage to their nonsense.