Since the start of the current era in international relations (in other words since the end of the Cold War – no point now in re-litigating our Cold War military posture) the US has pursued a policy of achieving its strategic objectives through military might.   In the region where this policy has been most directly focused, the Middle East, the policy has been an abject failure.  It has wrought destabilization, brought us failed regimes and bitter enemies that fight asymmetrical wars in the names of organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS.  The estimates for the costs of just the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (once lifetime health care for the many vets whose bodies and psyches have been destroyed is included) go as high as $6 trillion, see here: goo.gl/0tXsja      And this estimate doesn't even begin to take account of the cost in homeland security (the billions on covert security, the vast apparatus of domestic surveillance, the invasion of our privacy  (More...)