Quote:Having a meaningful ground force in the region means that we would have been able to respond in kind to whatever sectarian group rose up to threaten stability in the region, supplemented by our Iraqi Allies.  Under our leadership there would have been a lot less of just abandoning the vehicles that we paid for and going home.  We also would have had the pieces in place to make a RED LINE against using WMD a meaningful ultimatum instead of a political show and that could have influenced what happened in Syria. 

 

That's insane.  You want us to try to run the Middle East?   That would be the most disastrous course of action I can imagine.   We sit there and decide which group "threatens stability?"  And then we attack them?   Think about what you are saying.  Think how much that would cost in dollars and in lives of American soldiers.   And then think about how it would make us the scapegoat for every person in the Middle East who doesn't like how his life is going.   You want to make the Middle East an American colony?   That's what it sounds like. 

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