Doing nothing would have empowered Iran but you fail to take that scenario into account. You don't see it as a catch 22 - I do. There was no perfect solution.
You have moved from facts to pure opinion. So in my opinion, it was our business, they did want to kill each other and we let them... Neither side became dominant in the region as a result of our "interference".
You don't see the policy of containment playing any role in that being the case? Isolationist nations cannot by definition use a policy of Containment.
Valence effect in action.
Straw man tactic. Come back to reality and deal with what I said: We are better than other nations because we have a free press and they don't. The fact that you can point to all of our misdeeds, and none of the enemies, proves my point. I think this reality is responsible for the spotlight fallacies about America and its Military.
Heres the problem... I can agree with a 3rd party on 3/3 policies but they stand no chance of winning on a national stage. There are only 2 viable parties on the national stage, one I agree with 2/3 times and the other 1/3.
This years candidates are both 0 for 3 on my scale, so I'm looking at tossing my vote away on a third party anyway... No matter who wins the White House, we will have a tax-n-spend Congress calling the shots. A majority in Congress is the real prize, they hold the purse strings, only they can fix the budget.
Additionally, Holding Government Officials accountable for their actions is the role of the Government. The separation of powers and the system of checks and balances is in place specifically to maintain a high level of accountability, its just not exercised as often as it should be.
We agree on this as far as presidential candidates go... This cycle we're doomed. For the House and Senate its a bit easier to find fiscal conservatives RUNNING for office, but not many get voted into office... Fiscally irresponsible Politicians that promise "Free stuff" usually get the job over them.
Saying the majority of people want out of Iraq has no qualifier, same with taxes and same with spending.
"Do you want us out of Iraq?" can be answered "yes" by people with 3 different opinions about WHEN; a. when the country is secure, b. when the Iraqi's can begin to secure their own country, c. right now, no matter what the consequences.
Taxes: Do you want to save the planet from Global Warming? A majority will answer yes, whether or not they realize it means oppressive taxation.
Spending: Do you want Universal Healthcare? A majority will answer yes, because people don't care so much about the budget going farther into deficit, so long as they get something out of it.
People don't pay attention to these correlations and the media has an agenda to push, so they only point out such correlations when its in their best interest.
