Steve Benson for September 25, 2014

This is the kind of America we need.

You’re afraid of them? You feel a weakness in America and are in awe of the might of a few third world nations? You look at America and see nothing you like and blame it on them? I don’t know, what do they have in common?

This is what we should have done a generation ago. Obama is smart enough to let the Middle East own their own problem. We didn’t “break it in the first place”, as many of those who advocate American participation claim. Middle Eastern society has been broken for longer than the United States has existed. In the history of that region, peace has been a rare situation, always imposed by a government strong enough to prevent people who would otherwise be shooting (or throwing spears at) each other from doing so. It can’t be any different when the majority of people would shoot each other over religious differences that would be considered trivial by anyone who had any education that involved more than one book. And, those who are uneducated are convenient tools to gain power for those few who are not, which provides encouragement to keep them uneducated.But the saying " the enemy of my enemy is my friend" does not apply in this case. Each side is our enemy. We are “infidels”, making us more “killable” to each side than the other side and going over there to interfere is of no value to the American people. We need to simply stand back, allow them to manage their affairs however they would if we didn’t exist, and maybe in a few hundred years they will work it out. Once they realize that we have lost interest in them, perhaps they will return the favor and ignore us too. Killing each other is a more immediate goal.In those cases where we can infuse some actual education into the mix, that probably would be helpful— which is why they hate teachers more than soldiers. But military interference from America accomplishes nothing except creating hatred for our country, and leaving tanks, guns and bullets where they can be used to prolong the fighting. Granted, mutual hatred for America could bring the two sides together sooner than might otherwise be the case, to attack us, but that doesn’t seem to me to be a desirable outcome. Ultimately, each country belongs to the citizens of that country, and until they fix it themselves, it ain’t fixed.