Originally Posted by Guest

First of all, you get credit for a very clever non-reply to my questions. Your last paragraph in particular, while cynical, is entertaining.

But, I don't think you have a real answer, and I suspect you know you don't. The Middle East is screwed up ... we can all agree on that. In a perfect world, I would be happy to just let the whole sorry lot shoot each other up and not have one American service member in the area. However, until that perfect world is reached (ie never) we are, like it or not, in a power politics game. The only criterion I have is what is in American's national interest, especially from a security perspective?. We need strong leadership to succeed and that is obviously missing at present. Even the best leaders will not always get it right, but the good ones will at least not screw something up even worse.

The best example we have of what happens when American power is withdrawn precipitously is the rise of ISIS when Obama blundered and, going against the advice of all his generals, pulled our troops out after Iraq was reasonably stabilized. He created a power vacuum, and ISIS filled it. Look also at Syria, and Libya. Crappy presidential eadership has created the refugee crisis in Italy, as another example, but no one connects the dots.

I'm an isolationist at heart, but am forced to be a realist, especially with the increasing ascendancy of Radical Islam, both Sunni and Shia. This is even more the case with the latter being allowed to developed a nuclear capability by our (spiritual Islamic) political leader.

Deep down, I truly believes Obama thinks it's "unfair" for us to have nukes and Iran not to. This is mixed with his "who are we to say they can't have them when we do" and related mental infirmities exhibited by the extreme Left wing ideology.