We wanted out of Iraq. We lost 4,000 troops and sent home tens of thousands with permanent injuries to brain and body.

Because of that, we elected a President who promised to get us out, on a timeline. It was a timeline agreed to by Bush and demanded by the Iraqis.

I think it's rather stupid to blame a President for doing what he was elected to do, consistent with the policy of his predecessor, and according to the will of the government who has the authority over whether we stay or go.

Enough is enough. Twenty years of occupation wouldn't fix the problem, any more than the twelve years that preceded it. We broke the balance of power in the region. There will be an extended period of chaos until a new balance of power is reached. That won't happen until Iraq's Shiites acknowledge that partnership with Sunnis is a requirement for peace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous



We've been training their army to fight Boko Haram. They kicked us out in December, after we refused to sell them some military equipment.

Nigeria is a very difficult country to help.

Unlike Iraq where after 12 years of US training and force construction 50,000 US train soliders throw down their arms and run from 800 lightly armed ISIS members. Wish we can get a refund on that one.

I think this is part of the problem. We don't have the troops to fight in every conflict, the US taxpayers won't support it, the host and surrounding nations won't do much or are unable to do much to help, so we're left with pathetic lip service. I see a parraell to Syria. Why didn't we help the civilians? We don't have the troops or US support. Also, invading another Muslim country when other Muslim nations aren't helping will only backfire. It's tragic. I can't believe the world is standing by, doing nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Unlike Iraq where after 12 years of US training and force construction 50,000 US train soliders throw down their arms and run from 800 lightly armed ISIS members. Wish we can get a refund on that one.

US Armed Forces knew they weren't ready. Our CIC thought differently.

It's their country. At some point they have to decide to do something about it. Maybe we shouldn't have purged all of the people with military expertise from the military.

Unlike Iraq where after 12 years of US training and force construction 50,000 US train soliders throw down their arms and run from 800 lightly armed ISIS members. Wish we can get a refund on that one.

US Armed Forces knew they weren't ready. Our CIC thought differently.

Anonymous



We've been training their army to fight Boko Haram. They kicked us out in December, after we refused to sell them some military equipment.

Nigeria is a very difficult country to help.

Unlike Iraq where after 12 years of US training and force construction 50,000 US train soliders throw down their arms and run from 800 lightly armed ISIS members. Wish we can get a refund on that one.

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:This would have made worldwide news , had it happened anywhere but Africa. Can you imagine if 2000 French citizens were killed? The horror!

I saw it on the news.

I really hate that straw man argument. "Why isn't this on the news?" Posted by someone ... who links an article to USA Today.

I've seen widespread covverage. I don't understand that claim.

Anonymous wrote:Why isn't this stuff on the news ever??

The local and national news (such as Brian Williams' NBC "Wold News") spends all this time on France, "free" college, winter weather and cold temps, and other filler stories, but there is a huge massacre and nobody bats an eye?

Is there no outrage? No protests? No acknowledgement of the atrocities?

I found this helpful in understanding the difficulty of reporting the event accurately: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30794829

Muslima wrote:This would have made worldwide news , had it happened anywhere but Africa. Can you imagine if 2000 French citizens were killed? The horror!

I saw it on the news.

*weakening