professor andrew bacevich, welcome back to democracy now! >> thank you very much.my: can you talk about what is happening today as the major networks poll dance, sort of dance around the polls in the national elections for focus on this? the u.s. government is increasingly entrenched in wars around the world. the latest, the announcement of increased involvement in syria. of course, we know about iraq and afghanistan. your response? >> i think the way you posed the question, you're really putting your finger on the main issue. and it is an issue that gets largely ignored by the media and certainly ignored by those aspiring to be the next president. we have been in gauged militarily -- engaged militarily in an enterprise that by my telling, has now gone on for 35 years, beginning with the promulgation of the carter doctrine back in 1980. a project that assumes that somehow or other the a joint use of american military power -- adroit use of american military power can somehow fix large parts of the islamic world that are increasingly and valid in turmoil. -- and val