Originally Posted by Ron Bennett

Such foreign conflicts are primarily about access to important resources and strategic reasons - hence the huge involvement of the U.S. in the middle east.

There are far worse countries and leaders, especially in Africa, and yet little to no attention is paid to them - Somalia is a prime example.

The U.S. ignores the country and plight of the people there; there was that infamous failed military mission back in the 1990s in Somalia, but that was, imho, intentional as a way to get the heck of out of there...

A token mission of sorts, much like Grenada ... make it look like the U.S. fights foreign wars to spread democracy, which the U.S. itself isn't even one (U.S. is a Federal Republic; forefather's didn't trust the masses), when the reality is the exact opposite - the U.S. often desire leaders who are dictators, since they tend to keep tight control over their country while appeasing U.S. interests.

With all that said ... it sure appears, at least from a layperson's perspective, that the recent attack was primarily an assassination attempt - if so, that's a very dangerous path to go down, since there's no way to physically protect anyone 100%; assassinations tend to lead to more assassinations.

Ron