Gulf War I

After watching yet another documentary on the First Gulf War, I am utterly convinced that our direct involvement or at least the extent of it was a major mistake. Risking American lives and spending American money to protect one dictatorship from another is the worst example of American foreign policy. In the end, we got absolutely nothing from this and we are still, to this day, denounced and attacked by the regular citizens and many government officials from the countries we liberated.

The next time something like this occurs, we should do what has always made America great. We will limit ourselves to selling arms to the right side (the sovereign nation that was invaded) and let them do the heavy fighting and risk the heavy casualties. It's their war, not ours. Our involvement should be limited to whatever is needed to test the capabilities of our armed services. This type of real training with limited casualties is needed to keep our armed forces strong through experience while minimizing the risk of catastrophe, not to mention the cost. Our presence on the ground, however, should be at a minimum.

The other major problem in particular with the Middle East or any Muslim countries is that our involvement automatically makes Israel a part of the issue by implication. This is a classic example of what happens with entangling foreign alliances. Tying ourselves so strongly to the fate of one nation prevents us from being effective in other areas.