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From a purely selfish point, what do we gain from nation-building? As we approach the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, we still haven't produced a government that controls it own territory and we face increasing opposition at home. Maybe I'm just frustrated, but it seems like there has to be a better way. Posted by lawVol
I think you're a realist, a quality that is clearly missing in our current administration (and the previous one). The military is trained and organized to achieve military objectives that are in our national interests. It is normally a coercive form for diplomacy. I mentioned this elsewhere, but a perfect example of military coercion was our air raid into Libya in response to a terrorist incident. It didn't solve all of our problems, but it definitely made Libya more cautious and manageable. The air raids in Iraq circa 98 put Saddam back in his place for awhile. Both were relatively cheap, didn't present enough time for poltical opposition to develop, and the end both accomplished our limited (but realistic) objectives. The U.S. appeared to be to strong in the end.