Serious question

[malaise]

What is the US doing in Syria, Iraq, etc., etc.?

[blur256]

1. Good question.

I was about to pose the same

[htuttle]

2. I think it's to try to clean up after previous interventions

Removing Saddam let a lot of the groups that he kept down free to grow into the vacuum (like ISIS).

Saddam got as powerful as he did (which honestly wasn't that powerful), because we backed him through the Iran/Iraq war.

Iran was a threat since the revolution, which happened in part because the CIA overthrew Mosaddegh in 1953 and put an oppressive autocrat in power.

Mess it up, clean it up and make another mess in the process, and on it goes.

The US 'fixing things' in the Middle East is a bit like expecting an arsonist to put out the fires they set.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. No idea, my dear malaise. I have often wondered this myself. n/t

[bluestarone]

4. I'm thinking their main purpose was

To stop Assad from total destruction of his own people. That is until RUSSIA came in to save Assad! Now i think we are there to keep our friends from being slaughtered??

[ananda]

20. Also, to stop Turkey from slaughtering the Syrian Kurds.

..

[alittlelark]

5. Worshipping at the altar of defense contractors.....

[Hotler]

6. Protecting America's interest.

You know, stealing and securing resources for our .001%. Nothing to see here, please move along. Or review PNAC's (neocons) focus on foreign policy.

[pwb]

7. Being the cops of the world?

At least Nam isn't our longest war now. Seems like now we are just killing people wherever and whenever we have a chance to use our defense money.

[spanone]

8. Killing people?

yes, killing people.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

9. End them. It's never going to be a good time. Wars kill people. That's why you don't start them.

Just like the ugliness of Japan at the end of the war, people will die to end the war. Respectfully, our country has been at war for 2 decades. So long now that a top general was so UN-busy that he felt he could get involved in politics, and ALMOST handed this country another Erdogan in trump. The Middle East has been the graveyard of too many friends. And sent SO many home broken. If not now? When? The military budget is like a metastasizing cancer. I SO wanted Pres Obama to do this.
I don't claim to know all of it other than having seen wayyyy to much war in my lifetime. Stop the killing, leave the Middle East to it's own devices. Use it as a starting point for renewable energy...in everything. Had we done what Pres Carter thought we should in the 70's, we'd be there by now. In his lifetime. Everyday that we war, we lose another battle w the global climate bc we aren't completely focused on it.
Seems from reporting red don needs to end the war or he's guilty of colluding w the enemy in some sort of fashion to give aid and comfort to the same? This is just way out of hand now. Bush started this war. It's time to cut our losses. JMO.
End the war, and trump 2018/19. Let's move on?

[UniteFightBack]

10. Our presence helps keep a lid on some shit. We need to be all around to be nipping shit in the bud.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

11. NAw. There's a lot of other countries. We haven't won Iraq in 15 years. IRAQ. Not the USSR or China.

Like Vietnam it just festers now, and, it just keeps globbing over into another country bc...the MIC needs it and they promote the shit out of it when they need to keep it going. It's an ugly business. Maybe the Germans, French, Canadians, and the Brits should just keep it going? Something tells me they aren't interesting in spinning anymore plates in the ME either. If they don't care enough, why are we always put in the position of seeing sick and starving children on tv and made to feel awful about somehow NOT protecting them? Those children should have WORLDWIDE appeal for a cease-fire. It's not Americas job all the time. Why does'nt ending the war go on the GD ballot if Congress or the Executive cant finish what they started? Something tells me these "wars' feed the jobs numbers, GDP, all that stuff, and when we try to end it...stories of sick and emaciated kids, and refugees. Never ends until something ends it. JMO. Just my take on it.

[malaise]

14. Are you serious? n/t

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

16. Just my take on it. Its been going on for almost 2 decades.

I hear what everyone is saying. Im not saying how trump is doing it is correct. Im just throwing it out there that we cant just keep an endless war going forever. Shouldnt be where we are now. Its absolutely not the right way. When does it end? Just one persons opinion. I have family members who will never see body parts again. One has no feet from an IED. I feel awful about all of it. Just bc trump says were leaving doesnt mean its truly going to happen. There has to be an endgame though. My God Son has paid an awful price. He has no feet. My neighbor, disabled Marine Vet. Kid cries on the drop of a hat. Just kills me inside. This shouldnt have been done this way, but, when do we stop it?

[CaptainTruth]

12. Research the Project for the New American Century (PNAC)

The Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bolton/etc vision for an "Imperial America" that would "transform the Middle East."

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

17. +1

[guillaumeb]

13. Defending capitalism, and projecting power.

Every US war is about defending capitalism and projecting power.

Only the stated reasons for any particular war differ.

[BSdetect]

15. Keeping the war machine primed. Defense spending needs some excuse.

[H2O Man]

18. The simple answer:

It's a two-part program that has been going on since the end of WW1. First, prevent the nations of the Middle East from becoming united; and second, as a result of the first, allowing us to exploit their natural resources.

Recommended.

[coeur_de_lion]

19. The simplest explanations

are usually the correct ones.

Thanks, I was wondering myself.