Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
We have Saudi-backed jihadis and their AQ allies and Hezbollah and Iran and their Shi'a allies pouring resources and fighters into beating the stuffing out of each other. The US, for a welcome change, has managed not to stick its face into a situation where it has no compelling national interest at stake and slim to zero chance of obtaining a favorable outcome. How exactly is that a "strategic failure"?
Well I was hoping I would not have to explain this...

Take what was said and promised at the start of all this (Google is your friend) and compare that with what transpired. Simple as that really.

Syria is a complete mess.
Yes, another failure.

It was going to be a complete mess no matter what the US did.
No, no, no. That does not follow.

The US didn't create this situation and never had any reasonable option for preventing it, and it is in no way a US responsibility to "fix" it.
The US meddled ... go back and see (Google is your friend), the US and the West contributed to the resulting cock-up.

As the US had a hand in what has developed it DOES have a responsibility to help fix it.

I'm not sure any part in the US Government can be reasonably described as "smart guys", but at least on this occasion they were able to not wade in and make the mess our mess, which shows some vestige of smartness.
In their own minds they certainly see themselves as being 'smart-guys'.