Khashoggi, Kushner, Trump

[Dill]

(10-23-2018, 12:32 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Which apparently worked about as well as everything else the US does in the Middle East.

You'd think one of these days we'd eventually learn our lesson and just leave the ME the F alone.

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(Though admittedly, I think Iraq has actually turned out alright. Kicked IS out of their country, their military seems to be able to mostly hold their own in operations, they have had democracy/elections for 13 years now. Knock on wood, but I think in the future we'll be able to look at Iraq as the only bright spot of all that conflict over there.... or it'll all collapse after a contentious election and kick me right in my optimistic balls.)

Iraq cost 4,500 American lives and 100,000+ Iraqi. 30,000 Americans are permanently inured. The total cost from all that may be 3 trillion.The primary counterweight to IRan is gone. Before the invasion, Iraq was contained for about 1 billion a year. No American lives lost.

The current government is hardly a democracy, and is mostly in Iran's pocket. Northern Iraq is almost its own Kurdish state. That is why a few thousand ISIS fighters could burn through 30,000 Iraqi soldiers, who had no interest in defending their government. Still don't.

Iraq, after a totally unnecessary war, is still a long ways from "alright."

The U.S. has had some notable successes in the Middle East (I.e., Camp David) when Peace and human rights were the centerpiece of policy. The "problems" people always refer to are the result of overturning democracies and supporting dictators.  Or just breaking states with no plan for the day after.

One lesson could be taken from this--base foreign policy on doing the right thing; stop backing dictators.
Instead people throw up their hands and say "bombing doesn't work. They just won't listen. Just get out."

But leaving the Middle East alone really isn't an option. U.S. allies who constitute U.S. markets need the oil. Massive world trade goes through the region. and Broken states mean more 9/11s.