“America should stick to American interests in dealing with these folks.”
Like we did with Germany before WWII?
It was in our interest to thump some people in the ME just not our interest to play cop or be their George Washington. Killing bad guys can be in our interest. Giving the military the high level objective and turning lose the dogs of war is what we should do. Be so efficient and brutal that no one in 3 generations will cross us. That’s what GWB did not do. He did some things good but he let nation building get in the way.
More like what we did under Reagan where we acted decisively when our country or citizens were attacked or in imminent danger like with Granada and Libya, but used influence and support, not military might, to help freedom fighters in their own counties and stood unequivocally against totalitarian regimes like the USSR using skill and diplomacy to beat them (not to assuage them).