[fve]https://youtu.be/RkpWT2vqykU[/fve]
The United States' interventions in the Middle East over the past decades have been a clear failure by any measure, says Andrew Bacevich, an author on military matters and a retired Boston University history professor, in this Burning Issues segment.
"We have not achieved our political purposes, however we define those purposes," he explains.
What the United States should be doing is working to bring the various Middle Eastern governments and factions together and get them to resolve their divisions on their own.
Neither the Republican nor Democratic presumptive presidential nominees have indicated they would move in that direction and away from primary reliance on military engagement and arms sales. Republican Donald Trump is "erratic and reckless," while Democrat Hillary Clinton is "a hawk and an interventionist, and I think it doesn't go too far to say she's a militarist."
As for Sen. Bernie Sanders, "I wish he had articulated clearer views on what he thinks about the direction of U.S. foreign policy" while he was actively campaigning for the Democratic nomination against Clinton.