Re: US strikes Abubakr Baghdadi
Agree with most of what you said here. But remember what happened in Egypt. They fought for and got democracy and they elected a party that refuses to fall in line with the Western world view. This party gets their asses kicked and replaced with the same junta that people wanted to replace in the first place. Now you can argue, US had nothing to do with it, and I will call you naive. Now what kind of message does that send to the next generation. You can have a say in your own affairs, as long as it is what we say. The new generation looks at it this way. Two evils: one local and one foreign. They will always go with the local one, since they ‘know’ it. This is the the kind of despair that spawns insurgencies and it is not unique to this part of the world. That is the reason I dont think ISIS will go away if you kill their leaders. There is always someone out there to cash in on this despair and helplessness.
The problem is not so much about meddling but disengaging. In the past, in Nicaragua, Panama, Korea, Cambodia etc. US managed to successfully disengage itself. Hollywood made a few movies and people wrote books and that was the end of it. In middle east, the US does not seem to be able to disengage. And why would that be?