Remember This

[bailey777]

As powerful as the US is, it’s unrealistic to think it can do all things in all places to anyone it wants on the time scale it wants. Iran and Syria have often had outsized influence and power in their corner of the world, through patronage and effective networks of like-minded states/ groups. It was going to take a sustained long-term effort to diminish or topple that.

The US supported Iraq vs Iran in the 80s. Iran’s ability to fight conventional wars was greatly reduced by the time we got to the Gulf Wars. Post Gulf Wars, the US beefed up ties to the Saudis while keeping them and the Israelis well armed. These two partnerships, plus Turkey to a degree, were set up to counter-balance Iran (and each other). Despite many blunders, we managed to keep post-war Iraq from being overwhelmed by Iranian influence. Then in 2010s we backed Kurds and Syrian rebels during the Syrian Civil War. Turkey also backed rebels (but also fought Kurds linked to our Kurds — such is life.) We also dropped Stuxnet on Iran at that time. Post 10/7, the US gave Israel a long (but not infinite) leash to demolish Hamas and then Hezbollah With Russia tied up fighting US/ Euro backed Ukrainians in a death match and Iran’s steady decline due to weakened proxies and pariah- hood, Assad fell hard. Iran couldn’t do anything about it and Russia couldnt be bothered.

And we never had to attack Iran or Syria directly, at least in a sustained way. We didn’t have to send in a ton troops. Didn’t have to deal with major unmanageable escalations or unintended consequences. We strengthened partnerships that will help us solve future problems.

It’s really a success story if you take the long view. We did this over multiple admins ranging across the political spectrum. Course changed slightly depending on the political winds but ultimately the goals were defined, partnerships were sought and sustained, and opportunities were acted upon.

This new brand of populism wants to take us so far away from that. Its grievances aren’t imaginary but its boogey men are foolishly so.

The same people who want us funding ukraine forever called bush a war criminal and said the iraq war was criminal. The difference is many of us are done with that and are not interested in being the worlds moneybag and big brother anymore. Democrats now want it but many of us dont. It has totally changed by party. Being america first we dont agree with funding others anymore but many of you differ.

 

[UncleMark]

The same people who want us funding ukraine forever called bush a war criminal and said the iraq war was criminal. The difference is many of us are done with that and are not interested in being the worlds moneybag and big brother anymore. Democrats now want it but many of us dont. It has totally changed by party. Being america first we dont agree with funding others anymore but many of you differ.

We were the aggressor in Iraq.

 

[bailey777]

We were the aggressor in Iraq.

That was very true no doubt. I never liked that war once i realized it was all based on bs. And I voted for bush. But I still dont see how anyone can see dick cheney as a good guy now just because he hates trump. He was a main player in getting us into that nonsense and getting americans killed.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

This isn't too far from Trump's position, is it?

Is he giving the assurances? I haven't read he is.

 

[Palmbeachhoosier]

Yabbut much? WGAFF? Biden is no longer POTUS. Trump is.

And, if I remember, about the strongest defense of Biden I remember from this board was the ol' "at least he's not Trump" statements. I don't think there was anything close to the level of cult-like behavior exhibited by libs for Biden, no matter how the TDSers (and now the MDSers) tried to make it a thing.
So, now we got Trump, and he said he would fix it all on day one. How's that going?

BTW, whatever happened to the Epstein flight lists?

WE heard for 4 years that everything was Trump's fault.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

WE heard for 4 years that everything was Trump's fault.

Yeah...when he was POTUS.

 

[Palmbeachhoosier]

Come on. That second sentence has been thoroughly debunked. I remember when Republicans were honest with their criticism of Democrats. What happened?

I am not sure how you can debunk something when there is video of Biden telling the story himself.

 

[Doc Brule]

I don't know how to respond to this other than to say I think the facts and history show the US policy towards the Middle East--Iran, Iraq, Syria, et al--has not been a "success story," especially if you take the long view.

Finding a silver lining--hey, at least Iraq isn't overwhelmed by Iranian influence! (it wasn't before we went in, either)--from our Iraq misadventure is certainly creative, though.

Fair enough. I think the real ME missteps were invading, holding, and then trying to overhaul Iraq and Afghanistan. We stubbornly thought we could fit a couple round pegs into square holes with a jackhammer. Both cost too much in lives and finances. Iraq is debatable but I don’t think 20+ yrs in Afghanistan made us or the world safer. The US did, however, send a message throughout the ME (and the world) that we will topple any govt that assists w 9/11-scale BS against us. It was a message that even allies like Saudia Arabia had to hear.

Iran and Syria on their own, separate from our bigger ME adventures, were successful IMO.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

Yeah...when he was POTUS.

 

[Mas-sa-suta]

Russia Russia Russia. I am still waiting on the videos with Russian Vampires and Trump.

Do not, under any circumstances, forget the threat from Boris Badenov and Natasha.
Squirrel must stand defiant, regardless of the $1Trillion addition to debt every 100 days.
Although it will be entertaining watch the UK and Germany stumble through this last few months of Zskyy's dictatorship.

 

[Palmbeachhoosier]

Yeah...when he was POTUS.

Funny how things were fine the economy was great, very little inflation, no new wars, peace agreements in the Middle East were being signed. Then of course Covid hit

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

I am not sure how you can debunk something when there is video of Biden telling the story himself.

The prosecutor wasn’t investigating Burisma. He wasn’t investigating any corruption, which was the problem:

Fact check: Biden leveraged $1B in aid to Ukraine to oust corrupt prosecutor, not to help his son

Despite a Senate GOP investigation that found no wrongdoing by Joe Biden on foreign policy in Ukraine, claims to the contrary continue to circulate.

www.usatoday.com