@4meAndyou The only concern I have is with the nation building question. I don't think we can facilitate an overthrow of a threatening government without replacing it with a gentler government that respects values we honor.
I'm trying to imagine Japan and/or Germany today if the US and allies had just walked away in 1946; had the allies just congratulated itself for ridding the world of Hitler and the Nazis, and left Germany and Japan to clean up the mess they created. Germany and Japan are what they are today because of the effort by the allies ... i.e. the investment in nation building there for 50+ years after WW2.
To have watched the US withdrawal from Afghanistan I have to wonder if what we left behind there is a bigger mess than what was there before the 1st US soldier set foot on Afghanistan soil. Kicking ass is not enough. We have to stay and help the people get back on their feet and replace what was with something better. .
