Reply #7: No, we will never be consistent. The U.S. has never been consistent

[beachmom]

because of the nature of our democracy. I think there IS agreement that the way Iraq went down was very, very bad and shouldn't happen again -- as in, unprovoked where nothing was particularly happening in a country to suddenly invade it with shoddy evidence. But apart from that, we will always toggle back and forth between idealism and realism. I err more in the realism direction myself, while using OTHER means to encourage democracy like diplomacy, sanctions, etc. But I don't pretend that it's ever going to be consistent. It depends on so many factors and complexities. Intervene in Bosnia but not in Rwanda. In Afghanistan and Iraq, yet not in Libya (well, maybe it will happen but not some kind of massive bombing campaign).