dakota44

The countries stature might be somewhat higher had it not demonstrated that it's vaunted military could not defeat the enemy in Vietnam in almost 10 years, pretty much the same in Iraq, but wait, we did bring Granada to its knees.

Giantaxe

I think you can argue that both ways. For example, I'd say that the years of US intervention in Iraq were undoubtedly "messier than it normally is".

Giantaxe

NATO already has "boots on the ground" in Estonia and, yes, NATO would commit to defending Estonia if attacked by Russia.

And rightly so given Israel's continued pock-marking of the occupied territories with settlement building.

zargof

The whole Middle East has been messy for centuries regardless of the amount of intervention by the US, British or anyone else.

sir_eccles

Talking of taking politicians seriously...

Ben Carson asks, 'Gravity, where did it come from?' | MSNBC

SultanOfSwing

That's as bad as Bill O'Reilly's 'Tide comes in, tide goes out'.

What is it with conservatives and their blind grip on ignorance? What are they so scared of that they must reject knowledge and understanding of the Universe so vehemently?

zargof

Because if they start to allow facts and reason to penetrate their bubble, then their whole worldview will start to collapse in on itself.

SultanOfSwing

What a shame that would be ...

Ricky_85

No arguing about that. A lotta people killed and injured, both military and soldiers.
The Middle-East (for various reasons) has always been messy. And an ally might turn in an enemy in a blink of an eye. See Afghanistan.

Still, since too many players (most are bad) want to fill the vacum of power in this region, that now is being created, I maintain that the US is the only one who can be trusted. Actually, a scenario whereby Putin and all the Shia leaders (Iran, Syria and Iraq) ally together to possibly dominate the entire Middle-East is very scary.

RoadWarriorFromLP

The president is trying to say that the troops did well. He's not claiming that it was a good war -- after all, he campaigned against it.

zargof

Exactly, you can't blame the troops for the decisions their leaders made.

FlaviusAetius

It is rather bizarre that Carson just seems to keep stepping into it.

Although, you would probably have to be a post-doctoral level physicist to actually attempt to answer the question of what gravity really is. We all know it's there and how it controls the world and the universe as we understand them, and how to allow for it, but still it is one of the facets of nature that is profound. Why, for example, is there a gas cloud that passes close to the black hole at the center of our galaxy (that has the mass equivalent to 4,000,000 suns) without it being torn apart and sucked into that black hole - but it does pass close with minimal damage. The gravitational pull of that black hole is vast beyond our ability to comprehend.

Anian

He's the one who brought it up though, so maybe he shouldn't bring up things he doesn't understand and then show how little he knows.

zargof

You do realise that every time a politician speaks they show how little they know.

Giantaxe

I don't see how the US can plausibly be trusted in the Middle East. For example, it's propping up of dictators there for decades. It's essentially unblinking support for Israel regardless of that country's actions. Iraq and "weapons of mass destruction"?? Or, going much further back, the CIA's involvement in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953. Really, the US is not a lot different from a lot of other players in that region.