Should The U.S. Leave The Middle East?

U.S. Marines conduct a patrol through Agadere, a refugee camp in the outskirts of downtown Djibouti, Jan. 29, 2008. The Marines are assigned to the 3rd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion. U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Alec Kleinsmith

No Exit: Why The US Can’t Leave The Middle East -- Michael J. Totten, World Affairs

America is in a bad mood.

In the midst of the worst economy since the 1970s, we’re on the verge of losing the war in Afghanistan, the longest we’ve ever fought, against stupefyingly primitive foes.

We sort of won the war in Iraq, but it cost billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and Baghdad is still a violent, dysfunctional mess.

The overhyped Arab Spring has been cancelled in Egypt. Liberating Libya led to the assassination of our ambassador. Syria is disintegrating into total war with bad guys on both sides and the US dithering on the sidelines, worried more about saving face at this point than having any significant effect on the facts on the ground.

A majority of American voters in both parties have had it. They’re just flat-out not interested in spending any more money or lives to help out. Even many foreign policy professionals are fed up. We get blamed for every one of the Middle East’s problems, including those it inflicts on itself. How gratifying it would be just to walk away, dust off our hands, and say you’re on your own.

But we can’t.

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My Comment: Victor Davis Hanson has a must read post on the U.S. leaving the Middle East .... The Double-Dealing Middle East Is Double-Dealt. As to what is my own take .... the U.S. will eventually leave .... but not today.