The Arab Spring

So, to recap:

During the 1980's, the United States provides weapons to the mujahideen in Afghanistan, a group of Islamic freedom fighters who are battling Soviet invaders. One of the groups that formed the mujahideen became the Taliban, which provided safe haven and support for al-Qaeda. In 2001, the U.S. ends up fighting an (ongoing) 11-year war and occupation of Afghanistan following terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

Also during the 1980's, the United States provided support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein against the anti-U.S. Islamic government of Iran. The U.S. then ends up fighting the U.S. trained and supplied Iraqi army in both 1990-1991 and 2004. The U.S. stays in Iraq until 2009 fighting foreign-supplied Islamic insurgents.

The United States hails the "democratic" revolution in Egypt in 2011, which results in an Islamist government. Despite our support, the same group that started the demonstrations storms the U.S. embassy in Cairo and burns the American flag.

The United States, in an unconstitutional action by President Obama, provides unapproved military support for a similar revolution in Libya, which results in an Islamist government. A year later in Benghazi, the source of the revolution, terrorists kill the U.S. Ambassador to Libya along with three other staff members.

Always ready to double down on a bad investment, as long as military action is involved, Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsay Graham issue a statement following the incidents in Egypt and Libya supporting the "Arab Spring" and claiming that the movement has simply been hijacked by "small groups of violent extremists."

Also following the attacks this week, Lynn Grassmeyer, a self-described "humanitarian of Syrian-Palestinian descent" writes in The Tennessean that the United States has an obligation to step in and help rid Syria of its current dictator, Bashar Assad, and that the events in Egypt and Libya should not deter us from doing so.

Yet, in today's news, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri is asking Islamic extremists to do the exact same thing. So, if we step in in Syria, we either end up fighting alongside a brutal dictator against al Qaeda or alongside al Qaeda against a brutal dictator. And, when one of them loses, the other steps in to fill the void, meaning we are either left with a brutal, violent anti-American dictator, or a brutal, violent anti-American murder cult.

Take a look up at the history. Then take a look at what our so-called "leaders" are wanting to do now. A famous quote, usually attributed to Albert Einstein, is that insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Our attempts to manage, direct, and "democratize" the middle east have been a miserable failure. Furthermore, taking sides in their internal squabbles and revolutions is always a loss, because, and follow me here, in almost every case, both sides are the "bad" guys.

It's time to cut our losses in the Islamic world and leave it to rot. To do otherwise would be to do the same thing yet again with expectations of a different result.