The US suffers from a profound case of military superiority complex. It sees sending the military as the answer to every problem. The US bombed Afghanistan for 13 years. Al Qaeda moved on and the Taliban is stronger than ever.
U.S. bombs massively destroyed Iraqi infrastructure and killed or displaced millions of Iraqis over the course of two decades. We can see how effective that was.The US used the military to help overthrow Gaddafi in Libya. That turned the country into a failed state and led to the death of many more civilians than Gaddafi ever killed. We can already see signs of Mission Creep. US "advisors" and "trainers" are now being sent to work with Iraqi combat units. Pentagon officials have already started to talk about putting large numbers of US troops on the ground.
Obama admits military action can't defeat an ideology. Bombing civilians is horrific and serves as a recruiting tool for armed jihadists. What's the end game? How many lives, dollars and years are we prepared to sacrifice? To what end? Once in, how and when do we get out?
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