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On 09/11/2001, the United States was not heavily involved in the Middle East. Seems to me I made that same claim years ago, and was shot down on it. Perhaps one of you can remind me if it is wrong.

We weren’t in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria. We were not engaged in an ongoing theater-wide ongoing battle. We had no designs on beginning one.

Then 09/11 took place, and we entered into these nations over time.

The point I am making, is that withdrawing from the region is not a precursor to peace. Our largest sneak attack since Pearl Harbor took place when we were disengaged.

As a global force for good, the United States needs contacts, allies, and working relationships. We need feet on the ground, and working operational relationships.

Perhaps folks idea of the United States future role is that of a larger United Kingdom.

Maybe that works for you, your world view, but it does not work for the world view the United States has maintained since World War II.

We have been the global arbiter of reason. The one exception was Vietnam, and I would submit we had the right idea there, just not the right execution. Democrats proved what has been a fact since, they just can’t manage a war campaign any longer.

If we leave Iraq, that will put Iran in the cat-bird’s seat. It will dominate Iraq and essentially become the parental state controlling Iraq.

I remember back to a time when the Soviet Union had a strong presence in the region. Libya, Syria, the Arab states, many of them were bosom buddies with Russia.

If we had to take action in the Mediterranean, we had competition. There was an opposing fleet, air bases, military advisors, the danger of super-power conflict.

Today we are alone there. That is not going to continue. China is already making it known it wants to become a player there.

Is that something we want? Do we want an open competition for power in that region with it’s proximity to Europe?

I see comments about folks wanting to bring our troops home. Okay lets look at that.

If we bring our troops home from Iraq, who defends our Embassy? If we bring our troops home from other nations in the region, who protects our embassies?

Essentially, in a few short years we could lose a number of embassies around the region.

Even if we kept them where they are, who would be in charge of how policy was meted out in the region? In fact, our State Department would be playing all sorts of mind games with Trump (and the next guys [gals]). They’d be the only game in town on the scene. Did that work out well in the Ukraine?

Does that strike anyone as a solid way to move deeper into the 21st Century?

Remind me who from the State Department faulted Hillary Clinton after the events at Benghazi. Our Ambassador Stevens and three other people were killed there. Not a whimper was lofted by the State Department. “What does it matter anyway?”, was the operational strategy of the day.

Vacuums will always be filled. If we leave the Middle East like I read about here almost every day, we will no longer be a player in the region. The North of Africa and a large segment of Western Asia and South Eastern Europe will be devoid of our presence.

Israel will stand alone in the region. We will pay lip service to supporting it, but everyone in the region will know that we don’t want to get involved on the ground any longer. Terrorists will focus on Israel. It will get exponentially worse.

As China signs agreements with regional agreements for ports, and spreads some yen around, things will get very dicey for a return to the region, if events warrant.

China will be able to open air bases in the region.

I submit the fastest way for us to become like the present day United Kingdom, is for us to withdraw troops from places around the world.

All our gains and status would be gone.

Don’t kid yourselves, the Left has cherished the idea of what some of you are proposing. They DO NOT want us expanding our ideology around the world. They want our influence to wane.

As we bring troops home, our armed services will be reduced. Our carrier groups will be cut back. Our NAVY will shrink further.

In short, you folks wittingly or not, are advocating for laying the groundwork for the U. S. to stop being the world’s major hegemonic force.

China will replace us.

That’s the only foreseeable result from what I am seeing proposed.

I ask folks to please reconsider your demands. It’s not going to wind up like you think, with a stronger U. S.

Foreign trade depends on free shipping lanes and air space security.

If we withdraw, we’ll be withdrawing from far more than one or two nations in the Middle East, that will result in everything being peachy around the world.

It will be the inception point of our demise as the sole super-power.

China is not sleeping. I’m afraid some of us are.