Quote Originally Posted by chrisp_1927 View Post
I suppose south Korea is one of the few success stories of intervention, partly because the exit strategy has never occurred. The s.korea price of stability is 50 plus years of propping up a quite nasty military dictatorship, and having to leave tens of thousands of forces in the country for a longing time. Now I'd say it's been an overwhelming success and I'm sure most would agree. But it also shows that democracy and security can't be achieved on the cheap.

They have plenty of foreign policy failures , their successes have been expensive. So what on earth made them think that Iraq and Afghanistan could be achieved quickly and easily. It beggars belief that they were so naieve
Yep, nailed it.

Because in those countries you mentioned (and others) there is not only an an ideology that you're fighting against but also in many ways reinforcing the ideology by a western military intervention.