Posted on 01/04/2020 3:50:22 PM PST by rintintin
Otto von Bismarck famously declared the Balkans weren't worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. He knew that fractious, feuding part of Europe would soak up as much blood as the Germans cared to spill. Because Bismarck's successors forgot his wisdom, the Balkans ended up claiming the bones of millions, in what was naively called the Great War before it was eclipsed in bloodshed and horror twenty years later. Neither Germany nor her European adversaries have ever recovered.
The same could be said of the Middle East. The whole wretched place isn't worth the bones of a single Alabamian Marine. America has no vital interest there except oil. And, regarding the oil, whichever nation sits atop it has no choice but to sell it on the global market, since there is no other way for the backward economies of the region to generate sufficient revenue.
It is long past time for a definitive American withdrawal from that fractious, feuding part of the world. The attack on our embassy in Baghdad came about because we are contesting the Iranians for influence in Iraq. Invading and occupying Iraq has brought the U.S. nothing except flag-draped coffins, burgeoning VA wards, and fiscal ruin. Let someone else claim that so-called prize, and let us instead devote American lives and American treasure to promoting America’s interests.
Imagine how much better off we would be if the Americans killed and maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan were instead alive and vigorous, and if the hundreds of billions, even trillions, spent as a result of our Mideast misadventures had instead been devoted to productive economic activity, improving America's infrastructure, and solving American problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at chroniclesmagazine.org ...
The fallacy of American Isolationism is assuming everyone else is isolationist as well. Recorded history shows this has never been the case.
Apparently we are buddies with Saudi Arabia.
It's interesting how this little fact seems to have been completely overlooked.
Iraq is a bigger problem than Iran at this point. Iranian militants didn't attack the U.S. embassy in Tehran last week -- because the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with that country at all.
You don’t think that supporting the only democratic nation in the ME is a ‘vital interest’ of the US?
I guess you’re one of those who think that material things are all that matter and that ideals don’t.
That's up to you. I honestly don't care.
"Make America Great Again" actually means something to me.
There was no invasion. The Qassim SoulMan dude flew into Baghdad Airport, and was obliterated right after he got into his Uber ride.
These senior Iranian military personnel have been traveling freely over there for years.
It’s not Maiasia, so it must be Eurasia.
We tried surrounding Iran by ppacing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, putting the USN in the Persian Gulf, and making alliances with the former Soviet stans. It looked good on the map, didn’t work. (Might have, if BHO hadn’t intervened.) Trump’s approach seems to be having more success, so I’m willing to let his play out.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263798/american-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/
When Trump’s numbers start to drift up, you let us know.
No. And how is Israel the only democratic nation in the ME if Iraq has an elected government?
I guess you’re one of those who think that material things are all that matter and that ideals don’t.
What the heck does that even mean? Ideals are certainly important to me -- right here in the U.S. Anyone else can take them or leave them.
The Iraq government may ask our troops to leave. That would be a good opportunity.
We’re tied to them with the Petro-Dollar, but they are our enemies, too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa
Iraq is considered ‘partly’ democratic by US-accepted indices. (I would consider it ‘marginally’, if not only ‘nominally’ so).
Are you a complete isolationist, or do you think it’s important to support countries who have proven that they are trying to grow toward the same rights, liberties, and value of the individual, that we have traditionally fostered in the US?
Thanks for making my point.
They can’t use the oil excuse anymore........We’ve got more than enough to share with the world.
I have no problem supporting them at all. I would even suggest that these are the only types of countries in the world who we should have amicable trade relationships with.
Supporting and promoting them doesn't mean they are all military partners of ours. And it doesn't mean we should ever allow foreign interests to have any influence in our own government here, either.
A look back at the Suez Canal crisis of 1956 might be instructive here. In that case, all noble ideals about "supporting countries who have proven that they are trying to grow toward the same rights, liberties, and value of the individual" went out the window. The U.S. was in the unusual position of siding with Egypt and the Soviet Union against Great Britain, France, and Israel in that dispute. And that's because we considered our own interests to be far more important than the interests of those three countries -- even if it meant taking sides with hostile, totalitarian regimes.
I think supporting a tiny nation that shares our ideals IS a military issue, when they’re within firing range of so many crazies who want to see them all dead.
YMMV.
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