Stay Away from ISIS. Stay Far Away!!

Yes, I fit into that category of war-weary Americans. I've never fought in a war, never want to fight in a war, and actually see no sense of going to war to begin with. 

Before we get into ISIS, let's look at our experience in the Middle East. In essence, it sucks. The U.S. has spent trillions in treasure in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Israel, and Eqypt and all it's gotten the good 'ol U.S. was intensified hatred and counter-productive outcomes. And let's not even get into the terrible toll its taken on combatants and civilians on all sides. 

Iraq and Afghanistan are ongoing fiascos that won't be resolved in my lifetime. Actually, the only beneficiaries of these skirmishes are the munitions and various other vendors who are enriched by the waging of war. It's clear that we in the U.S. do not understand these people--I do not understand these people. It would be easy to dismiss them as bloodthirsty savages who sate their blood lust under the banner of religious or tribal fanaticism. 

But that would be to objectify an inscrutable enemy. The bottom line for me is WE DON'T BELONG THERE. We have no idea how to separate the good guys from the bad guys. Generally what happens is we take sides and the side we take inevitably comes back to bite us on the butt. We have no friends in that part of the world. When we intervene, we become the target and end up losing, just like we did in Vietnam and Somalia. 

Look, we don't fight other countries' wars in Africa--and it doesn't appear that we're hated there!

The sweet part is we can--and should--withdraw. We don't need them--we don't need their oil or their alliances. They're so busy killing each other, they probably couldn't be bothered springing another terror trap on the U.S. homeland. 

It's been 13 years since 9/11--how can we consider domestic terrorism an imminent threat? The crazies have plenty of their own to kill locally without having to cross a couple of oceans to blow up some token Americans.

Believe me, the treasonous intransigence of the Republican party, climate change, crumbling infrastructure, un- and underemployment, and loose gun laws present much greater threats to our domestic well-being than attacks in the U.S. by crazed Islamists.

So back to ISIS. Let the Iraqis, the Turks, the Syrians, the Saudis, and the Iranians figure it out. They don't need our bombs or the blood of our GIs.

THEY DON'T NEED US!!