Yeah, we're not doing ourselves any favors by bombing people in various countries over there, and we've been doing it for decades. I still don't understand why we invaded Iraq, especially since Saddam Husein actually kept things relatively stable.

Our foreign policy over there is really messed up. We should be helping enrich the average person, since that has historically been the path toward eliminating extremism and promoting democracy. We should be investing in these countries, not bombing them, and Iraq could have been a poster child for this strategy. Basically make a deal with Saddam Husein to create middle class jobs to trade with the US. It's a win-win because Husein gets to be popular and the US gets a relatively stable friend in the region with a populace who can start pushing for democracy. Iraq was already a secular government, so there's no theocracy crap to deal with. We kind of did that with Japan, and look how that relationship evolved.

I don't think it's too late either. We should be investing in the region so as oil becomes less central to the global economy, they have a fallback instead of a descent into chaos. Tourism shouldn't be the only option here, they should have a variety of industries, and the US could be central in getting that going.