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Post being replied to

Yes, the central question: why are we there? Would be nice by sorin69

to hear a convincing explanation that recognizes, as does BeijingIrish, how unready we are to launch yet another half-baked and impulsive and reactive military venture -- that, after we declare victory, leaves us with yet another festering occupation and exposure, in a part of the world, where we have repeatedly shown that, for all our unmatched firepower, we get played by the locals, who have their own agendas that may not match ours. That "uncontested land bridge linking Iran to the eastern Mediterranean" mentioned in another reply is the direct result of our having removed Iran's biggest enemy and obstacle to greater influence in the Fertile Crescent. Did we anticipate that particular result? It seems not.

Part of Trump's popularity traces back to his candor about the Iraq invasion. That was and is a shock to the GOP establishment that forgot the party's deep roots in what I will call, knowing it is an inadequate category, isolationism.