[John Farson]

I support the hunt for terrorists. Nation building is a fool’s errand. Democracy must emerge from pre-existing institutions — it cannot be forced on people from the top-down.

[mnehring]

Yea, that so called nation building of Japan and Germany really ruined us.. we all know those Nazis and Bushido followers could never be civilized and, rebuilding their countries would never be in our interest..

Kind of curious, how about weighing the cost/benefit ratio of the historical nation building (or rebuilding) we taken part in over history.. What does history show us about this?

While you are at it, weigh the cost/benefit ratio of the conflicts we abandoned.

[mylife]

Democracy must emerge from pre-existing institutions — it cannot be forced on people from the top-down.

Patreus is doing it from the bottom up. Opening factories and giving the people what all people want... an opportunity. It took us 11 year just to ratify our own constitution. Why does everyone expect success already?