Obama's failure to negotiate a SOFA in Iraq negated the blood and treasure we sacrificed to win the war. Instead, we lost the peace. The world is a far better place with Saddam and his two sons gone. We should have taken him out during the Gulf War. I drove through and flew over the "mile of death" and the burning oil fields of Kuwait.
We went into Afghanistan to get OBL and remove the people who harbored him--the Taliban. Mission creep led to nation building. We should have just concentrated on our national security interests. Still, if we leave Afghanistan entirely, then the Taliban in Pakistan will return Afghanistan back to a safe harbor for militant Islamists. And the regime in a nuclear Pakistan is vulnerable to an Islamic fundamentalist takeover.
Ever consider that the attempt to introduce or impose Western values to these places in itself gives rise to “Islamic fundamentalism”?
I was in Iran during the fall of the Shah. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism can be traced directly to Khomeini and his defeat of the West. If you read OBL's 1996 fatwa declaring war against the US, his rationale resembles your assertion. It is nonsense. The rise of fundamentalism is a reaction to the corruption and oppression of the Middle Eastern dictators. It is far easier to blame the West and our values than it is to blame your own people.
A different course of action by the US during the Iranian Revolution would have prevented many of the problems we face today in the region. Jimmy Carter was dead wrong in what he did and we are paying the price today for his failure of leadership.
What is the purpose of the United States aiding and abetting political Islamists in in Syria?
We missed an opportunity early on to aid the nationalists in Syria to overthrown Assad. Obama's dithering allowed the foreign Islamists to flock to Syria and now we have a mess on whom to aid. The main thing we need to do now is to try to contain what is happening in Syria from spreading throughout the region.
Can or should the United States attempt to influence evolving Asian affairs far from our shores. Should not the Asians themselves work out a consensus and balance?
We have defense agreements with Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. We have US military bases in Japan and South Korea. We are involved now. The last thing we want to do is to retreat from the region. It will lead to Japan and South Korea developing their own nuclear weapons and there will be risks of hostilities as China tries to extend its influence, witness the Chinese recent declaration of an illegal air defense zone, which not only affects the region but commercial international aviation as well. Should we accept these new air defense zones?
If wealthy South Korea cannot stand on its own, then more American treasure and sacrifice is not the answer.
South Korea provides for most of its own defense and helps subsidize the costs of maintaing the 25,000 US troops there. The war in Korea is not over, which is why we have a US presence at the DMZ. In addition to the US tripwire military presence, the US provides a nuclear umbrella for South Korea rather than having them develop their own, which could destabilize the Korean peninsula.
If nations choose downward spiraling economic socialist or quasi socialist debt producing systems, why should the American worker be expected to provide rescue capital?
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Finally just where to you recommend sending brave young Americans to die and just how is the security of the United States enhanced?
As a Vietnam veteran who spent a year in-country, I am well aware of the sacrifice we make when defending our national interests. No American should be sent in harm's way unless US national interests are involved.
Sorry but you are simply not persuasive. American over extension in world affairs neither enhances the security of those area where we insert ourselves or the United States. Virtually every example you gave has been a costly failure or has no long term viabilty. You cannot impose values on a foreign culture at the point of a bayonet. Next time our leaders should send thirty thousand laptops with a good internet connection instead of thirty thousand brave young Americans. Carefully reflect. The sixty five thousand young American who have died abroad since 1965, the countless wounded, those who are permanently deranged: Just how did their sacrifice enhance the security of the US and how might it been handled differently?