>> The Iraq war was a mistake
Nonsense. The unwillingness to follow through on commitment was the mistake.
>> Look at ISIS
Please. That’s the outcome of Obama’s negligence.
The thing is, unless we intend to WIPE OUT our enemy, and I mean gone form the face of this earth every last one of them in such a way that no one forgets for decades to come, then don’t bother.
America no longer seems to know the purpose of war, or how to conduct a war, or how to win a war, or how to behave during a war or anything else related to war.
We have the most powerful military in the world, and it’s run by a bunch of imbeciles that think it’s their own personal social petri dish.
I keep hearing that follow up o the commitment talk. How man years should the USA be there? If we stay 15 MORE years in Afghanistan it will still implode 3 days after we leave.
Iraq is the same. Do you advocate we stay there several more years? Obama was an idiot, yes. But there are two choices there. Stay 50 years or pull out.
And don’t hand me the Japan and Germany thing. Both were sane educated populations, and we utterly defeated them and ruled over them as dictators and rooted out Nazism and Japanese militarism.
We never crushed the Moslems, we let them be in charge, and we treat islam with total deference. We even wear gloves as our soldiers touch a Koran.
It is the outcome of not defending the war, and trying to establish democracy in the middle east, which can only fail. The Bush team's incompetence is what led to Obama and our current situation.
“That’s the outcome of Obama’s negligence.”
Obama’s Legacy. Total incompetence.
Well the idea of wishing a democracy on Iraq was also a mistake. You can talk about lack of commitment, but face it, Bush had no magic wand. He could not guarantee that his successor would not be a peacenik to a fault, and democracies are high-maintenance things when you try to undergird them with a hostile philosophy like Islam (yes that is in their constitution).
I think the right thing then, and still a possible way forward (maybe with the help of other countries, even Russia!) would be to get a decent West friendly kingdom (or kingdoms) set up in Iraq. This will also make it easier on members of unpopular religions there (e.g. Christianity and Judaism).