America’s Middle East Dilemma

National Review ^ | 6/19/2014 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Servant of the Cross]

Toppling tyrants is ineffective in the long term without years of unpopular occupation.

Two and a half years ago, the U.S. pulled every soldier out of a mostly quiet Iraq. In the void thus created, formerly al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists calling themselves “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” are now tearing apart the country, leaving medieval savagery in their wake.

Obama partisans are blaming the Bush administration for going into Iraq in the first place. But critics counter that Obama wanted out of Iraq before the 2012 election at all costs. The result of that reckless skedaddle is that we have thrown away the hard work of the 2007–08 surge that finally broke the back of both al-Qaeda and Iranian-backed Shiite terrorists. (snip)

Americans have a choice. They can learn to keep clear of these quagmires and accept that hundreds of thousands will frequently die in the Middle East — and occasionally some Americans as well. Or, if we tire of watching the violence and intervene after a 9/11-like attack, we should brace for a bloody mess that will take years of unpopular occupation.

So for now we will blame each other for the ensuing savagery and vow to let the Middle East be the Middle East — at least until the next time Islamic terrorists slaughter our diplomats, blow up an embassy, take down an airplane, or topple a New York skyscraper.

[Servant of the Cross]

The horns of a dilemma. A No Win Scenario.

[Servant of the Cross]

VDH ping ...

[Diogenesis]

"No, you won't find the words "Benghazi", "MANPADs", or "Jordan"
in this piece which protects Obama and Clinton and the RINOs."

[Iron Munro]

[Graewoulf]

America cannot win any Military War with Taliban-Friendly Obama as Commander in Chief.

[COBOL2Java]

Americans have a choice. They can learn to keep clear of these quagmires and accept that hundreds of thousands will frequently die in the Middle East — and occasionally some Americans as well. Or, if we tire of watching the violence and intervene after a 9/11-like attack, we should brace for a bloody mess that will take years of unpopular occupation.

Trying to remember. When George W Bush first announced the incursion into Iraq, did he communicate to the American people that "we should brace for a bloody mess that will take years of unpopular occupation"?

[Servant of the Cross]

Certainly his Secretary of Defense did multiple times. Who doesn't remember the phrase ... a "long, hard slog" .....

[Uncle Miltie]

I had exactly this conversation with a guy at the bus stop this morning.

[Terry L Smith]

It’s Obama’s “Saigon, 1975”.