The Giant blinked.  American power does not have the capability to deal with this situation in a way that won’t end badly.  As I said earlier, Islamic Civilization has intergenerational aspirations.  Iran are not the “madmen” the neocons portray, but based on many recent articles by experts, it’s clear that they do have enough of a long view to be willing to sacrifice the well being of the current generation for the long term prospects of their civilization.  Eternal Western hegemony in the Middle East is not consistent with that long-view, but neither is national suicide.  However, now the US has shown weakness.

Why is the US in this position?  Bin Laden.  He baited Bush and Bush bit.  The national media has not yet reconciled with how expensive the War on Terror/Iraq has been.  If you compare cost to benefit, you get an exhausted empire out of ammunition and without a purpose.  The military has bombs and the ability to drop them, but they lack the ability to achieve anything anymore as a result – other than more pain.  Bush’s war and what has followed has turned much of Middle East against the US, completely.  Bin Laden’s big strategic objective.

Isn’t it interesting how that works?  Did George Bush hate our freedom as much as Bin Laden did?

Prediction: Trump is talking about the “big expensive base” as a prelude to asking for some oil concessions, which will be nothing other than a face-saver as the US leaves Iraq.