Why?

I don't favor assassinations.  I'm not greatly supportive of the idea that we have troops in places far from here fighting our "enemies".

I do believe that if someone attacks us or perhaps certain allies we need to respond.

However what exactly are we doing in the middle east at this point in time?

I remember when Iraq and Iran were engaged in a brutal war committing atrocities against each other.

The impact on most Americans was non-existent.  Those engaged in certain weapons production benefited to a certain extent.

Atrocities were committed and I don't condone those, but outside of feeling bad for humanity it wasn't a issue.

When the Russian and Afghans were fighting I also don't remember caring much, although I was interested.  Had Afghanistan become a Russian puppet state, I guess it would have been a bad thing, but it never seemed very likely.

What wasn't going on was the loss of American lives or the trillions of dollars down the drain.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait, this all changed.  Now after almost 30 years, multiple regime changes, thousands of Americans killed and trillions of dollars spent, we see new players, shifting power centers and continuing conflict.

Would we have had 9-11 if we didn't intervene?

If those oil fields were part of Iraq would I care?

I can't imagine I would.

Our Failures Abroad

I can't think of a situation that involves any foreign nation where we are better off than we were under the previous administration.

Concerning trade and trade deals, we have no new ones, are losing our influence in Asia and are in the midst of a trade war with China.  How that might turn out is anyone's guess but the odds aren't looking favorable.

We have allowed the North Koreans to play our egomaniac who was pretty clearly outmaneuvered by theirs.  We got nothing, they got some prestige.

Japan and South Korea are having issues which while not directly involving us show how unimportant we have become.

India and Pakistan are generally ignoring us as the dispute over Kashmir continues.

The middle east is perhaps the brightest spot since we did some damage to ISIS but they continue, the Taliban is ready to retake Afghanistan and Iran is preparing to restart nuclear weapon development.  We have alienated a lot of middle eastern states by our action related to Jerusalem and the West Bank with no offsetting gain.  Our initiative there seems to be an economic one and it isn't being received well.

Russia is doing whatever it wants in the region, in the Ukraine and is likely to attempt to influence our elections.  They mainly want to destroy our institutions.

Our European allies, if we can still call them that, refused our invitation to jointly protect oil shipments in the straights of Hormuz.  They really don't have much use for us although they do support NATO.

Here in the Americas we have the issues with Central America and Immigration and our biggest failure to date in Venezuela.  Maybe this will all fall into place somehow.

We were close to a new NAFTA, not much different than the old NAFTA but it hasn't been ratified yet.

Perhaps everything will be a great success soon.  We know someone will claim it is via tweet.

Swords Into Plowshares

Partly because of our strategic location and partly because of our large population and strong defense, their are no real dangers concerning a conventional attack on this country.

Yes we were attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor and terrorists have attacked specific targets, but the idea that someone could invade and occupy this country is not really a danger.

Our troops are engaged worldwide in "Peacekeeping" roles that are sometimes open hostilities.  We have significant forces in Europe, and Asia to serve as a first line of defense and to guarantee the safety of certain countries from potential enemies.

These arrangements primarily started after the world war or during the cold war.  Our involvement in the middle east is a bit more recent and was to prevent a dictator from grabbing certain oil supplies, although we called it protecting an ally (sort of) from a brutal dictator.

The dictator was deposed and in his place we have a fairly unfriendly regime and increase terrorism that we have been combating.  Our involvement in the middle east in complex and since we seem to have enough of our own oil now, why are we still there?

The argument is that we have to combat terrorism before the terrorists attack us here.  It seems thought that our presence creates more terrorists than we can kill.  We have killed quite a few but unfortunately its hard to avoid some collateral damage as we do it, so we kill some innocent people which leads to new terrorists.

Now the best cycle.

We spend a lot of money on defense and I'm certainly in favor of defending this country.  I have some trouble seeing how our national interests are being served in some of these actions.

The bible tells us to beat our swords into plowshares.  Don't see much of that going on.

What's the Plan?

So we hit Syria with some missiles, doing damage to the places where they manufacture chemical weapons, and think that resolves it?

It really didn't accomplish much considering the fact that the Syrian Government has pretty much quashed most resistance and the need to use chemical weapons is probably not an urgent thing right now.

They also most likely have some in inventory.

The last time we had a president declare mission accomplished it led to a conflict that we are still engaged in.

This response isn't a solution, although its hard to have a solution without a plan.

What are we trying to accomplish in Syria, the middle east or the world in general?

Apparently if someone use chemical weapons on their own people we will react.

Everything else is OK?

The stated plan is America first, whatever that means.

Its also not a plan that is going to be appealing to our allies per se.

Despite statement by the dontard, it was always America first, although what that means is part of the problem.

We need to protect our citizens by reducing terrorism but what is the best strategy to do that?

We can try to guard everything but we know that's not really possible.

This is the anniversary of the Boston terrorist attack and that put pressure cookers in the cross hairs, although I'm sure there are other common items that can be turned into weapons.

Of course we have had the mass shootings, which weren't generally terrorist acts, but certainly could have been.

Guns are pretty readily available in much of this country.

We can play whack a mole or try to blame migrant workers for things they never did, but a real coherent plan is just beyond the capability of this administration, they can't keep team members on board long enough.

Its a pure crap shoot!

Making the World More Dangerous

The US recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel may seem like a non-event to many, I really don't care myself, except it clearly adds to the risk of retaliation against Americans.

The other problem is that we seem now to be unable to extract ourselves from the wars in the Middle East that we have been at for longer than any others.

Afghanistan, Iraq and now Syria seem to be places where American support and American troops (advisers) are going to be for the foreseeable future.

With additional unease caused by this move, the enemy will have additional recruitment resources.

These wars are costly, both in money and the lives they affect.  While the number of casualties is down from its high point, it is by no means safe and the money diverted to pay for these wars is adding to our growing deficit and national debt.

The one lesson that the past teaches us is that no nation can continue to overextend themselves indefinitely.  It's disruptive at home and costly and in general has led to the fall of all of them.

Its even worse considering that there is no offsetting benefits.

What can we possibly gain fighting these wars?  They increase the risk of terrorist attacks and increase overall resentment against us.

We aren't planning to seize their resources or enslave their people.

I only mentioned the Middle Eastern countries but as the radicalization grows our presence is expanding.

We recently lost American troops in Niger and not so long ago Libya.

We are overextending and over deploying our troops and it results in shattered lives with little to show for it.

We now have to deal with the North Korean situation and no one knows that outcome.

We have created a world, over the last twenty years of crisis diplomacy.

We had some allies, not friends that fought with us in the Arab world.

Is it really desirable to make it even harder for them to work with us?