So we have episodic memory too ? I feel like I can remember events like that , as they played out . <| sep |> As much as I loathe Jill Stein , she wasn ' t exactly making an incorrect statement . For all of the discussion of Hillary being the sane and rational choice with valuable experience in foreign policy , she ' s clearly learned NOTHING about the futility of regime change the sorts of political environments which produce a Hussein , an Assad , or a Gaddaffi . That ' s a pretty poignant line of attack against Hillary , and it ' s a shame the only people who espouse it are crazy Stein , Baraka or labeled as such both Pauls . The last thing we needed in the Middle East after building Iraq and unwittingly handing influence to Iran was to foment civil wars in adjoining countries which are both close enough to threaten our allies in the region . The security situation is so fucked up that we can ' t even discuss human rights or preferred outcomes without first stopping the bleeding . There are only two countries with the resources , influence , and inclination to do that and they ' re Russia and Iran . We ' re in a unique situation where we have some aligning interests that overshadow our disagreements on this particular issue . We ought to be seizing that opportunity instead of pissing it away in a proxy war which doesn ' t serve our interests at all . Of course many of the Old Guard of Washington foreign policy recoil at the prospect of collaborating with Iran and Russia to stop the bleeding and possibly set the stage for negotiations on the future of Iraq and Syria . They also recoiled at the thought of violating Pakistan ' s sovereignty to catch Osama bin Laden . But you don ' t get to make peace with your friends , you have to make peace with your enemies .