Name:   copperline - Subject:   Finally, Someone has the Guts to Say It Date:   12/2/2015 6:29:38 PM

Trump's opinions are irrelevant to me,the issues in the Middle East are well above his head.

But wait a minute, this war has to be limited.  We have to accept that every one of our previous efforts to impose our will on Middle Eastern nations has come to no good.   And now, if we don't have real restraint, we could hit any number of trip-wires that will cause the situation to spin even further out of control.  We should all worry everytime some broadcaster characterizes all this as the beginning of World War III.

We whipped ourselves up into a fighting frenzy when we invaded Iraq, then quickly came to regret it when we found we couldn't control the aftermath like we hoped.    We unseated Gaddafi to clear the way for Democracy and Libya's society just disintegrated into anarchy.    It's dangerous to start thinking about military escalations because the outcomes are so unpredictable right now.    I vote for the playing the long game and keeping our presence very limited while the Saudi's, Turks, Kurds and Iran take on ISIS.   I still believe we should see this as a Sunni-Shitte religous war, and ISIS' efforts are really directed toward sucking us into it.   When we lead the charge, we fuel more resentment of the US and doubts about our motives.    

If someone can tell me about a clean strategy, I'd be happy to hear it.   I think that when you're in a bad situation with no good choices, sometimes the only thing to do is try not to make it worse.