Post Iraq syndrome

This morning the news is Obama authorizes air strikes in Iraq if US servicemen are endangered.  The real reason is both humanitarian and political.  This is the conundrum facing policy makers in the post-Bush era.  The US public has lost its taste for "foreign entanglements", but there remains a role for the US in the middle east because of our past transgressions in the area.  We owe the people of Iraq the chance to make a country out of the mess we left them, but we can't babysit them (and the Afghans) forever.  The next president will have to make some painful choices when it comes to  our commitments in the world.  Straight talk to the people by this administration will make those choices easier.  Unless and until we wholeheartedly support a strong United Nations, we will have to use our diplomatic and strategic assets to try and keep the peace.  But the purse and the American peoples' patience will be limiting factors to our effectiveness.