"why can't they get involved".

Because they don't want to spend their precious funds dealing with the needs of a neighboring country.

The USA got involved and helped the rebels and helped wreck Syria? They now fix it.

That's the karma of the USA population for being very stupid....now they lose money that could have gone to USA needs into Syria.

part of me wants Trump to have one of his tantrums and order a withdrawal. Syria would go back to Assad and Russia's hands (which they are largely there already) and we'd be out of that quagmire.

so all the bad guys have to do is wait Trump out and Syria is back in their hands.

This is exactly what Trump excoriated Obama about when he was on the campaign trail. Of course his brain-dead followers applauded him, not having any idea what he was talking about. They still won't get the connection when he really does withdraw our troops. They'll think Trump is a brilliant tactician.

American forces, although they might be trying to help the situation there, in the long run aren't going to produce anything meaningful for the US or for the world community as a whole. None of our military adventures in the Middle East have ever worked out for us. Well, maybe the campaign in the North Africa and the Middle East against Rommel in WWII, but we weren't fighting the local powers, we were dealing with the Germans there.

I spent 13 months in Iraq as an Infantry Platoon Leader in 2004-2005. I saw first hand what American involvement in the Middle East is really all about and what it accomplishes. It is nothing that you as an American would be proud of, well maybe you'd enjoy it if you enjoy murder and inflicting pain on other people. Instead of squandering our blood and treasure on a cause that will end in failure possibly decades down the road, we should absolutely pull out of the region. The next thing to do would be to make the region totally irrelevant to us by investing in renewable energy resources and just give the whole Middle East the big middle finger and let them deal with their own mess. They all want us out of their nations anyways. Why shouldn't we respect their wishes and just get the hell out of there?

Yes, I'm sure the situation will totally collapse if we were to leave immediately, but I also think the situation would completely fall apart if we were to leave 10 years from now. We've been in Afghanistan for about 16 years now and dealing with Iraq for about 15. How would these nations fare is we left without a trace tomorrow? Are the lives and money we've squandered worth it? Why drag it out when we know exactly how it's going to end when we eventually withdraw 15, 20, or more years down the road?

I believe that Saudi Arabia is #4 in military spending in the world and they receive huge amounts of equipment from the US. Surely they can contribute to the peace within their region.

It helps a lot to hear about these issues from someone who was there and witnessed what most of us just read and ponder about.

Thank you, sir, both for your service, and for the insights you now thoughtfully share from that experience.

-app

He has trouble sleeping because he keeps dreaming that Putin has released the kompromat evidence he's holding over Dump's head.