OK, we started bombing a new country. Straight up or down: do you support it?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

47. No

You and I agree on many issues, but not here.

After losing 4,000 lives, and spending a trillion dollars,, we achieved stability -- albeit fragile stability, in Iraq. The US Military proposed leaving somewhere in the neighborhood of 8K troops there. The move was not wildly popular here, and (according to Leon Panetta last night on 60 Minutes) Nouri al-Maliki wanted no American troops to remain on his soil. Once we left, he removed Sunni military officials, and replaced them with Shiites, and generally engaged in bad behavior toward Sunnis in Iraq. IS came along, and seemed like salvation from Nouri al-Maliki; they won widespread popular support from Iraqis who were fed up.

We stopped owning Iraq the minute he told us to leave. We spilled a lot of blood and money to get them out from under Saddam Hussein. It's not our fault they did nothing with a golden opportunity. I have no desire to spill any more blood or money in a fight that is not ours. If a Middle Eastern nation or non-state movement comes out in favor of secular democracy; embraces a separation of church and state; embraces rights for women; and recognizes free speech, free media, and transparent government, then I'm willing to help. Until then, America should be done with this nonsense.