So you think we were right to assassinate Mossadegh? And to overthrow Allende? Sometimes you just have to overthrow or assassinate democratically elected leaders and replace them with brutal autocrats? You don't see anything wrong with supporting the Saudis either? From a perspective of spreading democracy, all these episodes are categorical failures.

And how has the war on terror and the invasion of Iraq been successful? The terrorist threat is worse than it was before 9/11. We have thoroughly failed to foster democratic regimes in the middle east. In fact, under the current policy, Turkey has turned more autocratic and sympathetic to radical islam. Even if we manage to defeat a more conventional threat like ISIS that doesn't bring us an iota closer to dealing with insurgencies and radical networks. In fact, the evidence shows that our presence in the middle east does nothing but radicalize further.