You think these people are worried about which flag is flown or gay marriage? Guess it's not our problem though until we have boots on the ground which will happen probably in the not to far off future. http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/africa/tunisia-terror-attack/
I think it is time for the US to let other countries sort out their own problems, we have gained nothing playing police all over the world.
Our military should not be invading to protect US business interests, I sure as hell would not my son to die in a conflict to protect a corporate interest. France needs to protect their borders and what goes on inside their country not the US.
We do in the middle east, what else were we protecting there besides business interest? I'm not saying we need to be stationed in every country where there is US involvement or businesses but it won't be too much longer and we will be sent in somewhere. We got pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan for a feel good cause because the general public was tired of being at war. But the job was not done and while it probably will never be done, especially in the middle east, we can't sit on the sidelines forever.
Have our efforts rewarded us with respect or appreciation? Hell no. Everybody says we invaded Iraq over oil, OPEC not the US. People on both sides tend to generalize to suit their needs. We wanted the Taliban and Bin Laden way more than oil interests. Lets seal our borders and take care of ourselves and our needs rather than trying to fix the world.
No we definitely haven't gained any appreciation, but to sit back and do nothing isn't really the answer either. We are already invested in stopping the type of things that are still goin on so you can't throw your hands up and say we don't care now.
We in the US have to understand that we can not have over %50 of the population receiving $ from the Gov't and afford to try to fix the world with armed conflicts and $ support. It is about as sustainable as union pensions.
That is true, we can't really afford to hand out money to every country that is having a hard time. But like I said we are already invested in this conflict. We took a stand thay we would hunt out terrorism where ever it is and have invested money and American lives to do just that. So to now to just sit back and do nothing isn't possible. Be it a direct attack on American property or citizens or on a ally nation it doesn't really matter. We're already beginning to send more troops to train whoever to fight ISIS so how long will it take before we just take over and do what needs to be done. So we either need to commit or just leave it alone all together. But I'm not sure we can just leave it alone.
I am mixed on this issue. Part of me can identify with what Sota is saying, take care of our own issues first, we are not gaining anything there and we are not changing hearts and minds with our actions. Part of me thinks we are already invested with blood and treasure and I hate to see ISIS take control over the areas that we essentially liberated just a few short years ago. I do think ISIS is a threat and will eventually make a terrorist attack on US soil, I think it inevitable. On the other side I agree that financially we cannot continue throwing money at problems throughout the world when we are 20 trillion dollars in debt. At some point we have to take care of our own financial issues.
On the flip side, what if it were your son who ran and owned that US business overseas? Then would you want it protected?
I may be off base here but a US corporation that operates a business in another country should not expect the US gov't to protect it.
It's not about protecting the US businesses; it's about protecting the citizens of our country who work there.
I think if my son operated a business over seas and something bad happened I would not blame the US gov't for not preventing it. Let me ask you if there was an attack on a overseas business here in the states how would you feel if another gov't came here and took police action within the US borders?
It depends what country it is: France, who is one of our allies, all for it. I highly doubt you'd be okay with our government standing by and doing nothing had your son been involved.. Either way, can't be mad at them for protecting their own.
On the most recent attacks the current administration would seem to have a conflicted foreign policy. While seemingly creating havoc on the middle east. Scaling back support and troops and some foreign aid (i.e. Libya, Egypt contributing IMHO to the Arab spring; Palestine & Israel; Iraq & Afghanistan trip withdrawals), it has embraced drone strikes more than any administration (argument could be made this is a cheaper alternative to cruise missiles). Favored prior enemies like Iran & Cuba. And has scaled back the military while rebuilding 'protections' in East Europe. I don't understand it. We will do nothing to protect multi national companies like Air Products, but that's really not different than pay administrations. Our N. African policy seems to be 'hands off'. We will do nothing about it either. Kuwait will be the interesting one to watch...but I think they've captured the suspects and who I'd suspect will likely quickly be killed...maybe e even publicly as is tradition in the middle east to serve as a warning to others. So the current DC mindset is likely "What problem?"
