The opportunity costs of Iraq

This is just one example of the opportunity costs imposed by the poor decisions which stranded US military forces interminably in Iraq. I would add that the same toothless threat problem also affects US policy in North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, Venezuela, etc.

"The megaphone diplomacy coming out of Washington and London: 'you damn well are going to let the U.N. deploy and if you don't beware the consequences' isn't plausible," he said in an interview published on Friday.....

"The Sudanese know we don't have troops to go in against a hostile Khartoum government; if Sudan opposes us there's no peace to keep anyway; you're in there to fight a war," he added. "It's just not a credible threat."

Current estimates are that 200,000 people have been killed so far by the government backed Islamic militias.