People have can't change the fact they are a person by changing their religion. Look at the dark ages. we could say-it was hopeless due to religion. But humans are rational. reason is volitional, you are correct. You can choose not to use it. Whenever people are free from govt or religious oppression-meaning their natural rights are protected, people choose to use their mind on productive activities for themselves and their families. Every culture, every religion, every race-same basic result. From the dark age (my definition-fall of Rome through 13th century) to renaissance in the 14th century.

I cannot disagree with that, except to say that I personally believe that their fundamentalist religion has corrupted their desire for natural freedom.

Must be. The only thing I can think of that might be bothering him is that Japan has begun a military buildup, but these seems to be a combination of reaction to China and a lack of faith that the US will follow thru with our commitments to them. I don't blame them for either of these opinions.

I think it is a myth that different cultures have different wants and needs. This is why they're called "natural" rights. rights based on the fact that we are human beings. Human beings have certain characteristics that need certain conditions in order to live (and thrive). To show that's the case, the same thing could be said about the japanese in WWII. Or Viet Nam recently. they saw China taking off and said-shoot, we gotta have some of that too!.
The reason we have lost this war is because we don't believe in our own ideals. we go over, win, and the first thing we say is set up any laws and govt you want. The first thing they do is set up an Islamic fundamentalist state. If we believed in our own Constitution and values we would say NO! You have to have religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free association, the goal of the government is to protect the natural rights of the individual.
But instead we believe in moral and cultural relativism-oh, we can't force freedom down your throats! how bad of us! Cultural relativism is essentially a "racist" concept, in my opinion.
There are two models in US history that have been successful in wars. The WWII model and the Barbary pirate model.
In one case, it's what hiraghm states-you get unconditional surrender. BUT if you do that, the followup is important-you have to setup a system based on natural rights or you will end up with the same problems.
Barbary pirate model-is what Will suggests-bomb but demand.We don't care that it's indiscriminate. We don't do either anymore. Bush did not follow through and ignored our Constitution as the appropriate model in Iraq and afganistan and Obama is guilty of actively aiding the Islamic fundamentalists to take over the middle east region.

Must be a backstory there... I'm trying to discern exactly how Japan 80 years ago has jack to do with the Middle East today and our waste of our soldiers lives there...

How did the Japanese cross their fingers behind their backs and what have they done to deserve your ire? When I was over there they seemed fine, even cooperative with us. Well, at least the ones around Okinawa did.

Does that not presuppose those people want individual rights, capitalism and freedom? In the case of the Middle East I do not see that.

I 'm not sure I agree. If your leaders threaten us, the reality is we are going to descend. We take time talent and risk to do it, we set up your Constitution and promote the system of capitalism. In the meantime you owe us some resources. But if we have to be bothered to stop your threat against us - you 're going to adhere to our laws and system. This is part of the point in keeping enemies from you door. Get them individual rights protection and focused on capitalism and it 's amazing how quickly the stoneage melts away. But since we don't even support our own
Constitution might as well just do what you suggest. Obamas child the Arab spring in two months destroyed all we had accomplished prior in that war. I think of how futile our soldiers feel being undermined like that and any of the soldiers who did a tour or several over there. What a waste. Treasonous

These people have been fighting for thousands of years. They are not going to stop on our account. The best thing we can do is pull out completely and bomb any structure with anything nuclear in it before it first starts up. It’s a simple matter really. We buy oil from whoever is in power, and when a nuclear facility is found by intelligence a B2 is sent from Whiteman AFB to destroy it. When the fragments of the bombs are uncovered they appear Chinese, Russian, British, American, etc. The enemy would find themselves thoroughly confused unable to determine who had done it.

A policy like that would save us the cost of all the American lives spent to try to free places like Iraq, while maintaining our national security.

A lot of people believe that we should have invaded and conquered Iraq. That is not what Americans do. It’s not who we are, and I do not see where we should debase ourselves for people who call us the “Great Satan” of the world. You want to wallow in your stone age filth, fine, stay that way.

Very little if any. Equipment withdrawal was included under OPSEC (OPerational SECurity) when I was in during the 90's. We may have left some outdated stuff behind, but little of any use. The biggest things we leave behind now is buildings and improved infrastructure.

shameful and embarrassing.

How much equipment did we leave behind?