What's our moral responsibility to Iraqis? [View all]

[MannyGoldstein]

We attacked their country and turned things from bad to horrific.

Fundamentally, I agree with Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn rule": you break it, you own it.

We broke it.

Seems to me that, at some level, we own the breakage (but not the store).

We've pretty-well proven that adding more troops here and there doesn't improve things. Our successful war against ISIS hasn't, shall we say, "lived up to the hype". My shallow reading of millitary history indicates that truly pacifying the place would require all-out war and total destruction, e.g., the firebombing of Germany and Japan, Sherman's March to the Sea, etc. No humane human wants that.

Perhaps we need some out-of-the-box thinking here. Just @#$&ing up their €£¥₩ and walking off doesn't seem right, although I realize it might be the least-awful option.

Thoughts appreciated.