BS. When you are attacked by a third world gang, you sink their navy, flatten their airfields, and smash their armor. Then you drop small arms to the oppressed and let them sort out how to build their nation. With our naval and air capacity, we do it at an arms length, no troops on the ground. No trillions to rebuild.
Do that once, and you will not see another attempt upon us for a generation. It's cost effective. It commands respect.
being rational about GWB always stokes the “conservatives” that are suffering from a more severe case of BDS than ever plagued a liberal.
Yup....as long as no neighbor hostile to us is sitting there ready to unite with a large minority and take over all of the militarily wrecked nations resources and expands its borders to allow it easy access to your allies...then that becomes really, really stupid.
Even more stupid when that neighbor’s primary military form is asymmetrical warfare.