My fundamental problem with Senator Schumer's assertion is the "thought" behind it: "It was that the warlords took peace here, created a temporary peace here. And that is because there was no one else there protecting." No one else protecting? The U.S. mission is not to distribute fish, it is to inspire the locals to fish for themselves. Security and the rule of law are participatory, not spectator sports. The very idea of "warlords" reluctantly forced to act because their people weren't properly protected by infidels is silly. A comparison & contrast led to this "flip." Enlightened self-interest is at the center of progress in Anbar and it is also the fundamental motivation for many politicians' views on war.
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