I object to Senator Rand Paul calling the Middle East a "quagmire."

If he wants a vacation, there are plenty of places where he can take one.

The Middle East is not an amorphous irritant.  If he's not willing to take the time to understand, that's his problem.  Does he speak a word of Persian or any other language or dialect of the region? How many people in the "quagmire" speak fluent English?  Our language dominance is merely symptomatic of a problem that is centuries old.

Unfortunately, the world's biggest and most powerful countries are used to treating other countries as if they're standing on the sidelines, waiting to be divided into teams for an elementary school kickball game.  Categorizing the world as With Us, Against Us, Poor Little Guys Who Nod At Everything We Say So Let's Give Them Some Money and I Don't Know What They're Talking About/Who Cares is not the platform on which the United States should build its foreign policy.

Senator Paul isn't stupid, and I don't object to him talking to people to try to solve problems.