Then, there is Iraq...

After two wars in Iraq , we have  spent the lives of thousands of  our brave men and women in the military, countless  numbers of wounded and permanently disabled service members.  The cost in blood and sweat far out weighs the trillion or more dollars that these  conflicts have cost. Yet , here we are again not only engaging in air strikes in Syria but back in Iraq as well  ...to aide a country whose American trained military could not defend itself.  What is the cause?  In my view, and just about everyone else who is able to analyze the problem, the Maliki  government  was unable to control sectarian violence. What violence is that? I could not believe the statement that Dick Cheney  made in the media.."we did not know that there was sectarian violence in Iraq!" It is not possible, I thought. Didn t he do his homework? Didn t he read the position papers that are put in front of him every day? A mute point now; but nevertheless not to be overlooked. At any rate, Mr. Maliki  has done great damage to his country and wasted the grave sacrifices  that the many have made.  Mr. Maliki did not include the Sunnis in his government; he dismissed  the Sunni military leadership,including the rank and file.The result is that a majority have sided with ISIS.  No wonder ISIS has become such a threat  ...American trained Sunni military fighting with captured American weapons in both Iraq and in Syria against Syrian moderates and Iraqi nationals . who now seem to be overwhelmed.  What a complicated mess! And of course, the  corruption and all that American money, almost 104 billion dollars, that certainly did not help. The same parallels can be seen in Afghanistan. We cannot export our brand of democracy with its current flaws and expect perfection in other government, especially if there is  so much cultural diversity.What is the solution? Perhaps, it is a partitioning process, better than  the one  after World War I , that gives regional identity , freedom,security and autonomy  to the various people who live there.  This problem is not just going to go away. A permanent solution  must be forged with the satisfaction of all concerned and ISIS will have to be included.  The Palestinian problem will have to addressed as well.  The solutions to those issues will aide humanity.