re: Rand Paul nails it on Iraq then & now

quote:

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Saying the mess in Iraq is President Obama's fault ignores what President Bush did wrong. Saying it is President Bush's fault is to ignore all the horrible foreign policy decisions in Syria, Libya, Egypt and elsewhere under President Obama, many of which may have contributed to the current crisis in Iraq. For former Bush officials to blame President Obama or for Democrats to blame President Bush only serves as a reminder that both sides continue to get foreign policy wrong. We need a new approach, one that emulates Reagan's policies, puts America first, seeks peace, faces war reluctantly, and when necessary acts fully and decisively. Too many in Washington are prevented by their own pride from admitting their mistakes. They are more concerned about saving face or pursuing a rigid ideology than they are with constructing a realist foreign policy.

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I like the guy, but this doesn't really tell us anything of substance.

It's one thing to put realism on a pedestal, it's another thing entirely to define what that means to a populace that really doesn't want to hear that the United States is not really some benevolent hegemony, but rather acts in its own self-interest just like any other nation-state.

FWIW -- most scholars consider Reagan an idealist in terms of his approach to foreign policy.