Does anyone besides me and a few others realize that we have been intervening in the Middle East for 27 years?
In all that time just what has been accomplished?
I think it is about time to re-think all this intervention crap.
I read an interesting paper written for a mostly Libertarian blog, the Future of Freedom Foundation….interesting points.
I published an article entitled “Prepare Now for Blowback,” in which I pointed out what would seem to be obvious to any reasonable person after some 27 continuous years of U.S. interventionism in the Middle East and 16 continuous years of interventionism in Afghanistan: that some people who sympathize with the people who the U.S. government is killing, bombing, and destroying are going to retaliate with terrorist attacks. It’s just a fact of interventionist life.
I suggested that people should ponder the blowback from U.S foreign policy now, when things are relatively calm, because when another big retaliatory terrorist attack occurs here in the United States, rational thinking is going to be in short supply. That’s when U.S. officials will be exclaiming about how the terrorists (or the Muslims) hate us for our freedom and values and will be completely ignoring the role that U.S. interventionism plays in producing the deep anger and hatred that motivates acts of anti-American revenge.
Source: The Surreal World of Foreign Interventionism – The Future of Freedom Foundation
So yes I am one who thinks we have overstayed our welcome in the Middle East…..time for the US to bow out and let situations play out….I believe we might be seriously surprised.
Another article that supports what I am purposing….
It’s time to end US military engagements in the Middle East. Drones, special operations, CIA arms supplies, military advisers, aerial bombings — the whole nine yards. Over and done with. That might seem impossible in the face of ISIS, terrorism, Iranian ballistic missiles, and other US security interests, but a military withdrawal from the Middle East is by far the safest path for the United States and the region. That approach has instructive historical precedents.
America has been no different from other imperial powers in finding itself ensnared repeatedly in costly, bloody, and eventually futile overseas wars. From the Roman empire till today, the issue is not whether an imperial army can defeat a local one. It usually can, just as the United States did quickly in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. The issue is whether it gains anything by doing so. Following such a “victory,” the imperial power faces unending heavy costs in terms of policing, political instability, guerilla war, and terrorist blowback.
Source: US Military Should Get Out of the Middle East | By Jeffrey D. Sachs | Common Dreams
During the rhetoric of the campaign I was sort of thinking that Trump may embrace the need for the US to get out of the Middle East……but I was mistaken….he has doubled down on all the crap Bush and Obama had been doing in the region.
Time to pack up and come home.
Reblogged this on AGR Daily News Service.
Re-blog appreciated thanx and have a good weekend….chuq
I know it might seem bizarre but when you say things like, ” …So yes I am one who thinks we have overstayed our welcome in the Middle East…..time for the US to bow out and let situations play out….I believe we might be seriously surprised….” I find myself in total agreement with you. — Yes, let them kill each other over there in their own crappy society rather than letting them come into The United States and kill us here.
I am talking about the regions population…I am not to worried about the perception of harm they want to inflict.
Rational thinking is going to be in short supply…..was not aware there was any…:-)
I’ll just stick here in my own crappy society & watch the crappy politicians crap all over the world…
Hi chuq 😉
Hi my friend….NATO politicians do that the best…crap on the world. chuq
Does not bode well for the future ….chuq
All too predictable….the media in U.K is of course supporting the attack not to mention the euuuuuu
In the meantime the sultan is as usual up to no good….fun times 🙁
Gives me lots to write about if I feel like it…we will see….chuq
The U.S. is a target for the Middle East because they see us walking around in jack boots, holding assault rifles and imposing rules of law they never agreed or elected officials to govern them. We don’t need their oil from what I can tell, we can get it from countries outside the middle east. We don’t need their technology, because in most cases it ours that we gave to them previously. What we need is to not be a visible target for hatred, malice and anger. Sure, some organizations will still continue to target the western world, but if we’re on the outside looking in, it’ll be really easy to spot the anomaly.
None of this will ever happen though until the ability of war-mongers to make MONEY is stopped. Turn off the f**king taxpayer money tap they use to fill their coffers. Congress needs to grow a pair of brass ones, step up, and repeal the AUMF that has made the past 16 years possible for Bush, Obama and now Trump. Without the AUMF, 80% of the military actions that took place and are taking place over there would be rendered unconstitutional.
Agreed but the politicians are gutless in changing things…they are afraid it will bite them in the ass next election….until we change that we will have to live with the use of force without accountability. chuq
2018 is going to be decided by what happens in the next few months.
DEms are holding their breath but I need a bit more…it is looking good but still a nagging feeling….chuq
I think that the intervention goes back a lot further that 27 years, chuq. The French ‘bought’ Morocco, in 1913, then the allies went on to divide much of the rest of the Arab world after the defeat of the Turks, in 1918. Their arbitrary lines on maps caused many of the problems that we have to deal with today.
Best wishes, Pete.
I agree Sykes-Picot was a disaster…actually the US wanted it handled differently but was overruled by GB and France…..the US has been fighting “officially” since 1990’s and Desert Storm. We have been meddling for years behind the scenes….chuq
When has the question of policy being “official,” or not, ever stopped us? Almost everything the CIA has ever done (in fact, let me take that back, EVERYTHING) the CIA has ever done, it has done illegally. But the American public thinks that this rogue “intelligence” (an oxymoron if there ever was one) agency is there to protect us. Go to back to sleep, sheep. You’re (we’re) doomed.
“Blowback” is mostly a myth. WE have funded, trained, supplied, fostered, etc our required enemies in the fraudulent “war on terror.” Americans are so gullible.
So true…the media makes sure that we stay that way….chuq
Share many of your thoughts on this. BTW…..it has been longer than 27 years. Middle East policy has been through a succession of administrations, R and D alike, has been thus: If there is a pile of shit 10,000 miles away we must go out of our way to step in it. We should let them all rot.
Thanx for your thoughts and the visit…please stop by as often as you can…chuq