This sort of statement is problematic because it’s almost right. Nation-building is a disaster almost every time it’s tried, and we won’t really force a Pax Americana by being in the Middle East. The idea was to punish/kill the offenders, the most important part of the exercise being that we showed the savages that we have the stones to pull the trigger. The problem is that the invasion/occupation of Iraq (and Afghanistan) HAS made us safer. We picked that battlefield, and it drew in thousands of Islamic nutjobs, who our military proceeded to kill. That worked quite well. We didn’t sell the invasion on those terms, and President Bush didn’t understand the need to. His mistake, and it was a big one. Maybe we can now pull back from the region like Ron Paul wants, but being there has served a great purpose. My only problem is that we were too soft on them. General Sherman showed the way 150 years ago.
what you said, especially about Sherman