What railing are you referring to, apart from the Iraq war, which I addressed earlier? "Self-appointed" military experts? You mean retired Adm. Harry Harris, the former head of U.S. Pacific Command and the Trump administration’s chosen ambassador to South Korea? And retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the former chief of U.S. Southern Command? You mean those "self-appointed" experts?
Yes, those guys. For years and years the left has considered the military of bunch of dolts. Now on this NK thing they're geniuses? What changed other than Trump? Peaceful options should be explored before waving the guns. This used to be the liberal position and it was the correct one. We've lost nothing in this deal so far, we've dealt with plenty of despots and tyrants before trying to work things out. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. It's worth the effort and should be applauded by all.
It seems the left and their now go to military experts would rather have Trump gin up some Gulf of Tonkin charade and get us into another B.S. war. What in the heck happened to your sensibilities? You guys really, and I mean really need to take a breath on this. The shooting starts on this one and it's not going to be some bullshit 4000 killed over a decade. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions will die. 4000 will be a slow day.
Sorry, you're just posturing here. Apart from W's Iraq war, I don't recall the left of the last few decades being particularly against the military. And it was W who ginned up the excuse for war, so the military was somewhat complicit but not alone. Does that mean that the military must now be discounted for evermore? Come on. The criticism was specific; don't make it more than it was. And where is the evidence that the left is beating a war drum now, to support your accusations? https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/false_dichotomy
W may have ginned it up and there weren't many democrats who opposed it, at least initially. That war was very poorly managed and a lost cause by the time people figured it out. Now I don't know how many decades you're talking about, but I clearly remember getting a beer bottle thrown at my head when I got back to the states. Damn sure weren't any flags waving. Stayed that way for quite sometime too. Years and years. I don't discount the military, but them boys at the Pentagon do like their toys and must be corralled every now and then. The left, while not specifically beating a war drum is, by extension, fanning the flame of war by being way too critical of Trumps initial efforts here. A united front would be a much better position to let Kim know we're all behind a peaceful solution, for the time being. Lets just give it a chance without all the hateful critique.
And Mattis trumps (pun intended) them all. Stick to what you know -- fag haggery. Nobody will dispute your expertise there.
Sure, and maybe he should have told his military what he was going to do, so that they would not be surprised and dismayed. And maybe a united G7 front would not have hurt, either. But he winged (against) that at the last minute as well, didn't he? And maybe a US presence (which Trump dissed) is needed in the region for geopolitical reasons to keep China and Russia from flexing too much muscle...and...well, you get the idea.