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Trump needs to return to his realist roots and get us out of the Mideast | Mulshine
Star Ledger ^ | 05.29.18 | Paul Mulshine

Posted on 06/06/2018 11:33:53 AM PDT by Coleus

The 2018 version of Donald Trump should listen to the 2004 version when it comes to Mideast policy.

That guy was one heck of a hard-headed realist. Here's what he said about the Iraq War in an Esquire magazine interview that occurred about a year after George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" appearance on an aircraft carrier:

"Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the county? C'mon. Two minutes after we leave, there's going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over."

It took a bit more than two minutes, but in recent elections in Iraq, the party of Moqtada al-Sadr swept to victory.

At the time Trump made those remarks, al-Sadr was leading the "Mahdi Army." This was a Shia militia that attacked American troops in the heavily Shia areas like Baghdad.

Now "the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy" is the power behind the Iraqi government.

Ain't democracy wonderful?

No, it ain't.

(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: middleeast; paulmulshine; trump

1 posted on 06/06/2018 11:33:53 AM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus

WHERE ARE YOU FREE REPUBLIC SUPPORTERS?

I’m so ashamed of all you comment readers and no supporters.
20, 10, 5. COME ON! Anything to keep FR for us.

FREE REPUBLIC IS THE ONLY PLACE WE HAVE LEFT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON!

PLEASE DONATE.....PLEASE!


2 posted on 06/06/2018 11:35:40 AM PDT by TribalPrincess2U (0bama's agenda�Divide and conquer seems to be working.?)
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To: Coleus

Isis didn’t exist in 2004.


3 posted on 06/06/2018 11:51:07 AM PDT by proust ("The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today.")
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To: Coleus

He needs to keep enough forces in the area to destroy any efforts by ISIS to reform viable combat units, and efforts to retake lost territory.


4 posted on 06/06/2018 12:03:58 PM PDT by Will88
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To: Coleus

Another brain dead soul that thinks the Middle East would be a better place with a lack of U. S. engagement.


5 posted on 06/06/2018 12:09:11 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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To: Coleus

Anything from NJ.com is pure BS.


6 posted on 06/06/2018 12:13:41 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: proust

That’s a vaporwear arguement.

In those days they were al Qaeda , Hezbollah, Hamas, al Fatah, and on it goes...

These players were around. Don’t kid yourself.

Was the U. S. In Iraq when ISIS coalesced and moved across the region? No.


7 posted on 06/06/2018 12:16:00 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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To: Coleus

I don’t see Trump trying to do nation building, just killing terrorists.


8 posted on 06/06/2018 1:52:29 PM PDT by Hugin (Conservatism without Nationalism is a fraud.)
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To: Coleus
Spot the reason why replacing one Islamic regime with another Islamic regime never has happy results.
9 posted on 06/06/2018 4:37:08 PM PDT by Architect of Avalon
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To: Coleus

The future is east of suez


10 posted on 06/06/2018 4:39:48 PM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Greetings Jacques. The revolution is coming))
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To: Coleus

When the toilet is overflowing; you first need to turn off the water.


11 posted on 06/06/2018 5:56:34 PM PDT by Revolutionary ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!")
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To: DoughtyOne
Another brain dead soul that thinks the Middle East would be a better place with a lack of U. S. engagement.

The Founders had the right idea when it came to foreign engagements.

12 posted on 06/07/2018 7:13:59 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: wastedyears

In our founder’s day, the world was massive. It fltook folks months to go anywhere overseas. Today we can go anywhere in hours. So can our enemies. Troubles brewing in the Middle East are essentially troubles brewing on our doorstep. We take them on there, or we take them on here.


13 posted on 06/07/2018 7:56:38 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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To: wastedyears

In our founder’s day, the world was massive. It fltook folks months to go anywhere overseas. Today we can go anywhere in hours. So can our enemies. Troubles brewing in the Middle East are essentially troubles brewing on our doorstep. We take them on there, or we take them on here.


14 posted on 06/07/2018 7:56:44 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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To: DoughtyOne

I still don’t care about them. We have a lot of nukes and, despite the immense damage _bama did, still the biggest and best military in the world.

They screw with us, we screw with them a million times harder.

Honestly, what would they say about our foreign entanglements?


15 posted on 06/07/2018 4:33:55 PM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: wastedyears

I understand your point, and I understand the reasons why. I also understand the reality we face today.

By engaging in the Middle East, we catalog people. We know of a lot of people over there, because we have been in the trenches over there.

Those folks train for years, and then come here. I want to know who they are, when they are still over there.

I don’t want to find out who they are as a result of a bomb going off here.

I realize you have some good points behind your thoughts. I just think this world is too complex to stay within our border and wait for it...


16 posted on 06/07/2018 7:02:05 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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To: DoughtyOne

We should take some pages from the IDF playbook and start profiling. Triggering thousands of saracens and illegal alien felons is worth preventing the deaths of Americans.


17 posted on 06/07/2018 7:37:52 PM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: wastedyears

We’ve really gotten ourselves in hot water. We brought folks who refuse to live by our laws into our nation, and to combat their threat to the citizens of this nation, we will have to violate rights to get done what we must.

They they’ll use the same tactics on law abiding citizens to bust them for all manner of things. I’m not talking about justified things either.


18 posted on 06/07/2018 7:51:02 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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