1) You know what, I feel I have to explain myself, as I realize I'm coming off as pretty pro-war which is a 180 from the opinions of people who I respect who are very much anti-interventionist.
2) I am not pro-war in the sense of I want Syria to become Iraq 2.0, I don't want Syria to be another Lybia, I would very much prefer Assad NOT die to a bayonet up the ass. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
3) What I am is pro-victory. I like fighting to WIN. I like fighting to achieve a concrete strategic objective, accomplishing that objective with maximum efficiency and minimal loss of life, and then GTFO
4) Iraq was the right war for the wrong reasons and with the wrong concrete plan of action. It WAS a haven for terrorist organizers. They DID have weapons they weren't supposed to. Its likely if left alone for a decade they'd have had their own civil war with half a million dead.
5) But, we went in there with a shit plan, half-cocked, and it turned into a proxy war with Iran. Oh, you didn't know? Yeah, the Shiite militias we were fighting were trained and organized by Iran.
6) Right now, Iran is acting as the key conduit for terrorism worldwide. Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran is sponsoring ALL of them.
7) I'm betting they've probably thrown money and equipment to the ISIS fighters in Africa and the Phillipines too.
8) And for close to a decade now, the world has allowed Syria to be used as a live-fire practice range for every paramilitary and militia group Iran has.
9) Note what we hit in the recent attacks. A chemical weapons RESEARCH FACILITY. As in, Iran and Syria are trying to IMPROVE the weapons they have, hiding the facility in the middle of a civil war that will never end and that no western nation wants to invade and stop.
10) I trusted Trump, Mattis, and the rest on these strikes because like last year we had a clear defined goal. Then it was knock out their delivery system. Now? Knock out their chemical weapons capabilities.
11) This was a win. We went in, achieved our objective, and we signaled to the world that 1: Russia WILL NOT stop us, and 2: Iran and Syria CANNOT stop us.
12) Should we invade Syria? HELL NO. Should we invade Iran? HELL NO.
13) However: should we force Russia and Iran out of Syria so the proxy war can end? Yeah. Should we knock the IRGC's fucking teeth in economically by ending the Iran Deal and reinsituting SWIFT sanctions? Fucking. YES.
14) So there's my stance. Its not black and white. I won't give anyone grief for being several shades whiter or blacker than me. But I will give Dems all kinds of shit for allowing this shitshow to go on for so long. /end
