The answer to the question is “maybe not.”

Almost 4,500 American solders lost their lives in Iraq.  Thousands more were seriously injured.  Was it worth the harm?  I do not see sufficient benefits to justify the investment.

President George W. Bush really believed that the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan was the right thing to do.

 You could argue that the information about WMD was faulty and that should have been enough to deter the invasion of Iraq. We really do not know what was in Mr. Bush’s mind nor what he was really told.

The invasion of Afghanistan was easier to justify.  The Taliban refused to extradite al-Qaeda leaders to the United   States.  al-Qaeda was the group that carried out the World Trade Center attack.

Mr. Bush argued that part of our mission was to spread democracy to Islamic nations that had lived under tyranny for hundreds of years.  The idea of spreading democracy is a wonderful theory that looks good on paper.  The problem is that most of the people in those countries do not understand the ideas of Western Democracy.  Those that do, do not accept the basic premises of western freedom and democracy.  It’s those words in the American Declaration of Independence that best express the idea of our system of society and government.  Let’s be honest, it took America 89 years to actually implement our own ideals.  That’s the time from the American Declaration of Independence to the end of the American Civil War.

So how can we expect Iraq, Afghanistan, or other Middle Eastern Islamic nations to become Western democracies in just a year or two?  We Can’t!

Thus the United States needs to be concerned with its own survival in a world where many of the players have alternate ideas of how government and society should function.  I believe that President Obama has not yet fully understood this reality.  Why?  1) Our lack of preparation for an attack at Benghazi.  2) The mild response to North Korea’s stated intention to shoot a nuclear weaponized rocket at the United States.  3) The lack of progress in talks with Iran.

North Korea and Iran have stated repeatedly that they consider the United States their enemy.  They have stated their hatred on numerous occasions.  North Korea has stated it is preparing a nuclear armed missile that will target the U.S.A.   Iran had states that their first target is Israel followed by the United States.

We should be concerned and we should be prepared.  Neither North Korea nor Iran has participated in real talks to end the ongoing diplomatic conflicts.  There is nothing that has been reported that indicates that there will be a reduction in the disagreements we have with these two countries.

Unless a new approach to the two America haters is developed I predict there will be a war with both of them.  I hope President Obama has made adequate preparations.