President Reagan wouldn’t have needed to deal with ISIS. They couldn’t exist under his administration as they are a product of weakness. They would have been too scared to start. If they were stupid enough to try and form up, Reagan would have have decisively dealt with them before they got anywhere near what they are now. Their first attack would have been their last.
When 299 Marines were killed in the Marine barracks attack in Lebanon in 1983 there was no retaliation by the administration. There were threats of retaliation but that was the end of it. That inaction, to the terrorists, was a sign of weakness and led to where we are today.
They were born in the Levant. That Lebanon. Where do you think the fathers of ISIL learned their hate—and our unwillingness to fight after being hit hard.
We cannot glass over all of our mistakes.