It is high time to admit that we, as a nation, cannot fix the problems of the middle east. It is even more prudent to admit that the problems they face are not only not our primary concern, but more importantly, do not have the types of solutions we intend to impose. This nation and others before it has spent my entire lifetime (and even longer) battling over land that is not ours and is governed by ancient rules antithetical to the American way.
Critics have been quick to blame Obama for the latest crisis in Iraq. Somehow this one man, Barack Obama, didn’t do enough over the last 8 years to prevent this from happening. In truth, this was going to happen all along. We know this from the experience of our previous engagements in Iraq (yes, we’ve been there before with the same results) and Afghanistan (the Russians were there even before us, with the same results). This is bolstered by the events in Syria, which Obama was interested in become entangled in, but the American voters (wisely) put the kybosh on that one.
I gave up on politics a long time ago. I quit the moment I recognized that politics is about money, personality, and ego. This world conflicts boil down to conflicting ideology and the ‘who gets the girl’ mentality of teenage boys. Too bad ‘the girl’ in this case is a nation full of people who are struggling to live their daily lives without being shot in the face or stoned because they like a boy who their daddy says they can never touch. Sure, this is a minimalist reduction of the regional problem, but I continue to believe that everything can be boiled down to who has the power, how they try to hold on to that power, and whether or not that power is enough to make them happy.
Here’s a hint: It never is.