We cannot win in Iraq any more by ourselves, unless the Iraqis take the highly unlikely step of actually uniting to at least create a federal system that allows the three main groups to enjoy the autonomy they crave.
We are already allied with evil around the world, and have been since the beginning of this country's history. Its called geopolitics, and its admittedly a mother******.
Indeed, at this very time we're aligned with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, Columbia, etc. These aren't exactly the nicest regimes in the world.
China is a stakeholder in the world system whether they want to admit it or not. North Korea is a bigger problem for them, South Korea and Japan than for us. Our capital city (Seoul) is not within 35 miles of thousands of artillery pieces that could produce an urban holocaust in about 1 hour of bombardment. Our already unstable countryside (NE China) is not at risk of taking on tens of millions of starving, brainwashed and diseased refugees. Our entire nation (Japan) is not at risk of chemical, biological and nuclear attacks from a crazed neighbor that threatens to cleanse our cities in radioactive fire, rape our daughters with weaponized hepatitis spores and wipe out our culture.
We can't influence North Korea, nor we can credibly invade or bomb them. To do so would invite the slaughter of millions of South Koreans.
China has been building a cadre of North Korean refugees for years now, training them in how to run a government and lead a people. The Chinese will topple the KFR at a time of their choosing, its America's mission to speed that momentous decision up.
Likewise, we have to work with some unsavory characters in the Middle East to achieve our objectives. Big deal, we're already doing it and have been since before 9/11.
