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The quote was "You break it, you own it." and he didn't say it as a Moral Mandate, like, "You gotta fix it". He said it as a warning to be absolutely sure you knew what you were getting into beforehand.
We did destroy Iraq and Libya, we are greatly to blame for the sad state of affairs in those countries. Bush may have been wrong to invade Iraq, but Obama is even more to blaim for failing in Iraq and destroying/abandoning Libya.
It is amazing how even recent history falls into the memory hole when it comes to reactionary screeds. The destabilization of the Gaddafi regime was well underway before the Administration stepped in to halt what was seen at the time of as the imminent threat of mass executions by Gaddafi forces as they approached Benghazi.
I see the current violence over there as nothing more than today's incarnation of the 10 millennia of nonstop mindless mayhem that's been the most salient characteristic of the middle east since before written language existed.
That's the history of the world basically. Europe went through years of regional wars until World War II, Latin America had frequent revolutions and civil wars until recently, East Asia went through all sort of violent periods and wars(Imperialist Japan, Chinese Civil War, Pol Pot, Vietnam War), and Africa is still dealing with violence. It's just that things calmed down more recently in a lot of places from World War II or the Cold War-era, while the Middle East is still dealing with violent fallout from the collapse of the order that developed post-Ottoman Empire and post-colonialism. Eventually though you'll have more of a regional hegemon or competing hegemons--right now though it's basically sorting out the borders of Sykes Picot through bloodshed.
Historically most of the wars in the Middle East were fought between outside invaders or revolts against a empire(like the revolts against the Ottomans). If one looks back through history though while there's been both conflict and co-existence between Shiites and Sunnis, there hasn't really been a lot of large scale wars--though this in part because Iran/Persia has always been the only major Shiite state since the Safavids.
BUT, is it the American citizens fault our government went in like a bull in a china shop.
I don't think so. Our only duty is to vote the slobs out.
I am not placing blame at the feet of citizens but as a state, the US has some responsibility here. Coalition action removed Saddam who was zero threat and the result is before the world. sums that policy up.
My first question is when in the hell did Iraq become an ally?!?!
You invade a country, disband its army, install a puppet leader and when you finally allow "democratic" elections you stand by and watch as an Iraq exile, who lead one of the largest Shia militias wholly trained and sponsored by your so-called arch rival Iran!
It is amazing how even recent history falls into the memory hole when it comes to reactionary screeds. The destabilization of the Gaddafi regime was well underway before the Administration stepped in to halt what was seen at the time of as the imminent threat of mass executions by Gaddafi forces as they approached Benghazi.
Yeah, we and NATO invaded Libya under a rumor of a threat of possible deeds by Qaddafi, meanwhile ISIL is doing much, much worse and no one cares.
No NATO country was threatened by Qaddafi, not one American citizen was at risk, and yet we teamed up and destroyed the place.
Obama told us he had no strategy to combat ISIL, and he still doesn't. What the Obama admin is doing is to hide behind the fact that he does not have a clue how to fight and defeat ISIL, and trying to pass it off as a new grand US policy.
Obama's spokes idiot claims we will use air power to support Iraq. What a laugh, we barely fly six sorites a day, or about 150 sorties in some months. We are not using our air power to destroy ISIL, we allow them to stage miles long convoys in parades to celebrate their victories. We allowed them to move in weapons and vehicles to attack Iraqi cities, and we don't even bomb known ISIL headquarters buildings.
That has been one of my points over the past few months. Obama cannot claim we are providing coalition air combat operations when we fly the amount of sorties that one peace time squadron flies, just to meet aircrew qualification requirements.
It was no secret ISIL was amassing forces and equipment to invade Ramadi, and we did not bomb the crap out of them.
Right now, we know where ISIL command complex buildings are and we refuse to bomb them and kill their leadership.
WASHINGTON — American intelligence analysts have identified seven buildings in downtown Raqqa in eastern Syria as the main headquarters of the Islamic State. But the buildings have gone untouched during the 10-month allied air campaign.
And just last week, convoys of heavily armed Islamic State fighters paraded triumphantly through the streets of the provincial capital Ramadi in western Iraq after forcing Iraqi troops to flee. They rolled on unscathed by coalition fighter-bombers.
Obama has a lot of nerve complaining that the Iraqis are not stepping up to the plate and doing what is necessary, when he has not done so himself.
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sums that policy up.
