[KC_for_Freedom]

I was a “W” supporter, I was most impressed with his empathy for the cadets killed and injured in the A&M bonfire failure.

However, the biggest mistake he made was taking Iraq without a plan for the aftermath. In retrospect, he could have gone in, and left when the war turned into a street fight. He needed to keep the army for internal control and his plan to put a bureaucrat in charge was a total failure. But finally, he did not understand the mindset of the nation. His plan was to show them the virtue of democracy and watch as they embraced it. Hell, they did not even embrace us as liberators.

Good points about the pre-911 failures. We were warned by the first trade center bombing and the perps made multiple dry runs. As Trump says, we need to have borders and enforcement if we are a country.

[hoosiermama]

Never could figure why we attacked Irag when the guys that flew the airplanes were Saudi. Then we fly all the Saudis out of the country when no one else can fly. Hmmmmm?

[Liz]

.......the biggest mistake GWB made was that he did not understand the Mideast mindset. We were supposed to show them the virtue of democracy and get all warm and cuddly inside as they embraced it...... Hell, they did not even embrace us as liberators.

The US never figured out to this day, that the area needed strongmen like Saddam and Khadafi to contain these people....now marauding all over Europe....and coming here.

The indigenous people saw the money-making opportunities of a superpower in their mindset, and the US stupidly let them pick our pockets.

The US gamely decided to "train" these people.... it took five years and billions of dollars to get 4-5 of them ready for combat. They/re now using billions in abandoned US war materiel against us.

The war profiteering was so humongous, the WSJ announced neocon godfather Richard Perle (conveniently based in Paris) was starting his own oil company. Afghanistan/s Kharzi was seen loading billions of US dollars into a truck to send abroad.

Kudos for posting this.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

In the future we should ‘city build’ rather than nation-build. We should form a single city into an educational and economic dynamo with forts surrouding it. Make it their personal shining city on a hill. With a top notch commerial/military airport. Massive surveillance. Make them feel like they’re in a fishbowl albeit prosperous where we educate the nation’s future leaders, doctors, etc.

That’s difficult enough to achieve.

The surrounding area — take out the worst warlords and offer cheaper ‘bang for the buck’ support.