Edit: Two world Wars didn't last as long as this alleged Middle East crisis.
Crisis my a-se. Manipulation of the masses.

Edited by -TUX- (20 Oct 2015 7.30pm)

That's largely because the two World Wars were fought with a clear objective and where that objective required compromise among unlikely allies, it was more or less rapidly and immediately achieved. And that was because the war was fought in a theatre (Europe) where all parties had common physical interests; the protection (or expansion) of their own national boundaries.

Conversely, the Middle East isn't located in Europe (obviously) so the interest in affairs there is primarily economic, and the powers attempting to influence those affairs have competing, rather than common, economic interests. Furthermore, the adherence of some parties more than others to some sort of human rights dogma obscures their willingness to make difficult moral decisions of the kind which are rarely palatable socially but are nevertheless almost always necessary to waging a successful military campaign.

The real points are: 1. Don't get involved in someone else's affairs if you haven't got the stomach for a fight or, if you do get involved on that basis, don't expect it to go well, and 2. If you're not pursuing an outcome you can guarantee to deliver, there's no point wasting lives. The real tragedy of the Middle East is the number of people (soldiers and citizens alike, on both sides) who have died for nothing. We are no better off for their sacrifice. At least the lost generation in the first half of the last century died to protect freedom and achieved their goal. The politicians of all parties should be ashamed of themselves; either for lacking the courage of their convictions or having the wrong convictions in the first place; as you prefer.

Edited by sydtheeagle (20 Oct 2015 9.11pm)

The problem is we don't have an objective, where as groups like IS, Islamic Jyhad etc do. Unlike Al-Queda, most of the middle eastern Islamist groups have objectives and a goal. Where as our objective and goals are really summised by 'killing them when we can locate them', and trying to get other groups to do the same.

The problem is we also tend to rely on somewhat questionable intelligence as to 'who is IS / the Taliban' often from sources of human intelligence that have their own agenda.