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Cruz on Iraq: "We Stayed Too Long And Got Far Too Involved In Nation-Building"
RealClearPolitics Video ^ | September 24, 2014

Posted on 09/24/2014 7:15:45 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

SEN. TED CRUZ: Now, the president has been advocating arming the so-called moderate Syrian rebels for some time. And throughout the course of the discussion, what I have endeavored to ask, repeatedly, both publicly and in classified situations, is how do you distinguish the good guys from the bad guys?

Last summer, when the president was urging a unilateral attack on Syria, at the time in June of last summer, out of the 9 major rebel groups, 7 of them had significant alliances or connections to al Qaeda or al Nusra or to other radical Islamic groups like ISIS.

Consistently the administration has not been able to give a satisfactory answer to how you distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. And my point is, trying to resolve the Syrian civil war should not be the objective, and in fact arming one side of rebels -- those rebels are fighting literally alongside ISIS on the same side against Assad. It doesn't make any sense.

What the objective should be, I believe, is not trying to resolve the Syrian civil war, nor should the objective be trying to achieve reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites. Sunnis and Shiites have been engaged in a sectarian civil war since 632 AD.

DAN BALZ, WASHINGTON POST: But does the United States have no role in trying to help produce a functioning government in Iraq....

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; Government; Philosophy; Russia; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: cruz; iraq; isil; isis; military; obama; russia; tedcruz; terrorism; texas; ukraine; yep
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To: Theoria

I hope you all enjoy Hillary’s two terms. I will be about as far away as you can be and still be on Planet Earth.


21 posted on 09/24/2014 7:55:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

kill the bad guys and get out is the best option

Why should we nation-build for Muslim savages?


22 posted on 09/24/2014 7:55:39 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Germany and Japan in 1945 weren’t run by savages who hated each other’s sects of the same religion.

You can't be serious. Have you heard of the Holocaust? Or the rape of Nanking? The Germans and the Japanese committed atrocities on a much greater scale than ISIS has. Both Germany and Japan were filled with world class savages back in the day.

23 posted on 09/24/2014 7:56:53 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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To: pieceofthepuzzle; Mariner
And the DMZ on the Korean Peninsula. I wonder what Asia would look like today if Eisenhower bugged out like Obama?
24 posted on 09/24/2014 7:57:43 PM PDT by Chgogal (Obama "hung the SEALs out to dry, basically exposed them like a set of dog balls..." CMH)
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To: Mariner

Well Cruz saying that we got too involved with ‘nation building’ was music to my ears cause I’ve said the same as well....we should go in, do the job, and get out and quite trying to change the people and their cultures to be more American when they don’t want it.


25 posted on 09/24/2014 7:58:43 PM PDT by caww
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Was Germany, Japan, and Korea nation building? ...If not why not?


26 posted on 09/24/2014 8:00:21 PM PDT by woofie
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To: Objective Scrutator

In WW2 Naziism and Japanese Imperialism were eradicated as ideals. They were discredited thoroughly.

Today we have political leaders pretending Islam means peace or whatever crap. They didn’t do that during WW2 because it is insane


27 posted on 09/24/2014 8:00:28 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: Parley Baer
I remember Freepers in the day saying that the point of being in Iraq was that the US Military was like putting out fly traps and catching terrorists. Better there than here was the feeling at the time. I guess we Freepers have been mugged and woke up liberals. ; )
28 posted on 09/24/2014 8:02:04 PM PDT by Chgogal (Obama "hung the SEALs out to dry, basically exposed them like a set of dog balls..." CMH)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I blame Jimmy Carter for this mess. He started the ball rolling by throwing the Shah under the bus. (Carter's CIA shoulda terminated the Ayatollah Khomeini with "extreme prejudice". Millions of people including thousands of Americans would still be alive today if he had done that.)

Once we committed to Iraq, my guess was that we were going to need to be there for the next 93 years. I understood that Obama needed to campaign on withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, but I'm shocked and amazed that he actually seems to have believed his own rhetoric.


29 posted on 09/24/2014 8:02:20 PM PDT by Sooth2222 ("Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." M.Twain)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Whether I agree with Senator Cruz on this issue or not, there are a couple of things I know for sure.

1. No matter what door he walks through, he is the smartest guy in the room.

2. After Electing Obama twice, this Country doesn’t deserve a Man like Senator Cruz, but it needs a Man (or Woman) just like him if there is any hope of remaining the Greatest Nation the World has ever known.

I admit to being a bit biased since some people I know in Texas are friends with the Cruz Family.


30 posted on 09/24/2014 8:05:50 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Cruz / Gowdy 2016, if you want to save America.)
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

Agreed. We can’t blow it up and leave. We needed to keep a base of operation there. I do agree with the premise of no nation building, but we still need to provide the resources to keep the peace and give the new government a chance to survive. We see what happened now without any presence. We needed to win, ensure elections happened and then fade back to our bases into a support role a lot sooner. Go out and kill insurgents and train their forces to take over.

I always felt our biggest strategic mistake was to consider it a war and not a transition after Iraq was taken. We should have declared victory and then considered a rebuilding and transition period. I get why Bush did it. He wanted to keep people behind it and knew it would last awhile. What I am sure he didn’t expect was a protracted battle lasting beyond his term.


31 posted on 09/24/2014 8:08:26 PM PDT by ilgipper
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To: Sooth2222

Here’s an idea.

REMOVE every moslem from the United States.

CLOSE all mosques in the United States.

PROHIBIT all moslems from flying on US Airlines

Retaliate against any attack by moslems against the United States by a factor of 100,000 fold.

Make it CLEAR to moslems that GENOCIDE is an option the USA isn’t ruling out.

And steal all of their oil money,redirect the unholy degenerate sons of bitches at the IRS towards that mission .

There is NO REASON any RAGHEAD should have the cash via oil money to buy WEAPONS to be used against the WEST


32 posted on 09/24/2014 8:09:45 PM PDT by Rome2000
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Thanks for posting, 2DV. Excellent interview with our Sen Cruz. The TX Tribune guy tries (over and over) to trip up the Sen....to no avail!

Listening to the (over an hour) interview, now. Lots of topics covered. Side note...Cruz’ remarks on the post-election, 0bola Amnesty EO possibility question, is excellent, btw.


33 posted on 09/24/2014 8:10:51 PM PDT by Jane Long ("And when thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek")
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To: woofie

Was Germany, Japan, and Korea nation building? ...If not why not?


Yes, because those nations build stuff.

Muslims build nothing and destroy everything for fun. There is no correctional plan for them, just suppression.


34 posted on 09/24/2014 8:11:56 PM PDT by txhurl (2014: Stunned Voters do Stunning Things!)
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To: Jane Long

I didn’t watch it but sense our Senator is heavy-hearted.

Zero has done everything in his power not to do anything to preserve and project American Power.. and Cruz is seeing what a long road is necessary to reverse this National Demise and Malaise.


35 posted on 09/24/2014 8:15:51 PM PDT by txhurl (2014: Stunned Voters do Stunning Things!)
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To: Mariner
He's correct, of course.

Nonsense.

The only mistake was George Bush trying to placate the opponents of his successful war effort when the only reason they opposed the effort was to criticize him.

36 posted on 09/24/2014 8:18:50 PM PDT by papertyger (Those who don't fight evil hate those who do)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Germany and Japan in 1945 weren’t run by savages who hated each other’s sects of the same religion.

And how is that different from Communists ready, willing, and able, to pick up the pieces if we didn't?

37 posted on 09/24/2014 8:25:23 PM PDT by papertyger (Those who don't fight evil hate those who do)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Sorry. I forgot to add I think your distinction is arbitrary (obviously, the presence of Communists, and the existence of warring sects are different).

My point is the dynamics of a fallen or conquered government are exactly the same.


38 posted on 09/24/2014 8:38:49 PM PDT by papertyger (Those who don't fight evil hate those who do)
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To: txhurl

Muslims build nothing and destroy everything for fun. There is no correctional plan for them, just suppression.


Sounds just like our Progressives/Liberals.


39 posted on 09/24/2014 8:46:26 PM PDT by laplata (Liberals don't get it .... their minds are diseased.)
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

.......on the subject of Japan, I know a little something as I lived there from 1969 to 1971 or just 24 years after they were defeated.

There are significant differences between the Japanese people and the Muslim “factions” in the mid east.

First, there are FEW factions in Japan. It enjoys a homogeneous population. A very high % of the people respect and honor their Emperor’s (government) official policies. The “factions” in the mid-east hate each other and kill government leaders daily.

The family unit in Japan is strong. Parents are respected
and children grow up educated and not brainwashed to some religion bent on killing non believers. Not so in the mid east Muslim factions.

Japanese are sexually sane! Generally speaking they respect their women and don’t cover them up, beat them, kill them, stone them or rape them. Not so in the mid-east Muslim factions.

Japanese are imbued with an amazing work ethic from the age of babies! My experience in visiting mid east countries is that few want to work.

I could go on and on.

So, to your point, I know that we could have given it up in Japan early on for a lot of reasons and some I have named above. But, we are there today because official Japanese policy is that “we need American protection in our neighborhood”. Also, maintaining military forces in Japan is relatively easy because all servicemen and women want to be based in Japan. We loved it. Hated to leave. Japan provides lots of facilities free. Japan’s harbors are natural and defensible. Japan’s strategic location is second to none. So, America benefits too in the relationship.

Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, I agree with you that Iraq could have been and probably should have been considered a long term base of operations and OIL should have funded it all! But, again, our looney left Democratic Party and MSM drive policy in the US and so that is simply not possible. Anything that makes sense anymore, is not possible. What’s looney, becomes policy.


40 posted on 09/24/2014 8:59:20 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid!)
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