Israel did not convince Iraq to invade Kuwait and wasn't even involved in this war. The US-led forces aimed to liberate Kuwait from Iraq and cripple Iraqi military capability in the process in 1991. Both objectives were met in a well-planned and executed operation. How is this a loss for America? The US could finance this operation but why do it when others are willing to pay for it? Funding is necessary to fight a war and the war machine should be up to the task as well. Arab countries consulted different countries including Egypt and Pakistan and realized that neither a coalition of Islamic countries and nor the Mujahideen model of warfare is feasible and sufficient to overcome Iraqi forces in their home turf in 1990. This is why Arab countries approached the US to do the needful.
The US came up with new technologies and training standards to rebuild its war machine after the Vietnam War and was eager to test it in another front. The US was contemplating liberating East Germany and Baltics from the Soviet Union but the US-sponsored Color Revolution set the stage for the dissolution of the Soviet Union from within. The US turned its attention towards Iraq, therefore.
The American Civil War did not involve clashes with another power, it cannot be evaluated in terms of "victory" or "defeat" in this debate. Let's have a look at other wars that were fought in the same century and beyond.
The US defeated the Mexican Empire and seized a chunk of its territory in a war that was fought in the (1846 - 1848) period. This war concluded with the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
The US defeated the Spanish Empire and seized its colonies such as Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Phillippines in a war that was fought in 1898. This war concluded with the
Treaty of Paris. The US granted independence to these colonies but retained Guam for its uses.
The US
dispatched a massive force to Europe to make it possible for the Allied Powers to defeat the Central Powers in a major war that is recalled as World War 1. The Allied Powers and the Central Powers were locked in a stalemate but American forces joined Allied Powers in a push to break it. The Central Powers lost due to American intervention and World War 1 concluded with the
Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This war also set the stage for the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath.
Let's reflect on other wars as well:
- Which side fought then Imperial Japan and rolled back its advances across the Pacific?
Chinese forces offered resistance to the Japanese forces in China proper whereas the US fought and destroyed much of the Japanese war machine across the Pacific.
- Which side fought Germany and rolled back its advances across Africa and a chunk of Europe in the Western Front?
German forces overwhelmed Poland in 1939 and other countries such as France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium in 1940. British forces were routed from France but managed to counter Italian forces in Libya in 1940. However, German forces arrived in Libya in support of Italian forces to establish Afrika Corps and pushed the British back into Egypt in 1941. The US and the British joined hands to defeat Afrika Corps in Libya in 1942. The US-led forces invaded Italy in 1943 - this move made it impossible for Germany to resupply its forces in the Eastern Front to overcome Soviet forces in the Battle of Kursk and the tide turned in the Eastern Front. The US-led forces were facing heavy German resistance in Italy so they opened another front in France in 1944 in an attempt to stretch German defenses and advance towards Germany from both directions - this move broke the back of German forces as they lost their best mechanized divisions in clashes with Allied Forces in the Western Front and exposed Germany to invasion from all directions.
- Which side provided thousands of pieces of equipment to Soviet Union to handle German forces in the Eastern Front?
The US and the British supplied
thousands of pieces of equipment to Soviet Union to help plug gaps in Soviet defenses and rebuild Soviet logistics capability under
Lend-Lease Act.
One can write much about Soviet role and sacrifices in World War 2 (commendable), but it wasn't ground breaking or instrumental in defeat of the Axis Powers on a broader level. The British figured out how to infiltrate German ENIGMA communications to unmask German war plan and moves whereas the US provided much-needed muscle to overcome the Axis Powers around the world. Both the US and the British also helped rebuild Soviet war machine in the Eastern Front.
The US-led forces aimed to liberate South Korea from North Korea and cripple North Korean military capability in the process in 1950. Both objectives were met but General MacArthur sought North Korean capitulation and the war expanded with intervention of China and Soviet Union in support of North Korea. Communist forces managed to liberate parts of North Korea and overrun parts of South Korea including Seoul in 1951 but the US-led forces regrouped in South Korea and liberated South Korea for the second time and this war concluded with the
Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State in 1953.
China prevented downfall of North Korea (credit where due), but the US succeeded in restoring South Korea in the end. This is American victory actually.
American mission in this region was to preserve South Vietnam and American forces bested Vietcong in various battles but Nixon abandoned South Vietnam in 1972. This was a political decision and not a defeat in the battlefield.
Vietnamese geography does not provide much space for mechanized operations and precision strikes were needed to destroy hardened targets in different sectors of the country. The US developed world's first precision-guided munition (PGM) in 1971 and put it to good use in
Operation Linebacker II in 1972 - American Air Power nearly crippled Vietcong military force in this operation but Nixon did not change his decision about South Vietnam. It took Vietcong 3 years to recover from this blow and overwhelm South Vietnam in 1975 when it was abandoned and vulnerable.
China also invaded Vietnam in 1979 when Vietnam was occupying Cambodia. China aimed to liberate Cambodia in this war but failed to meet this objective. Chinese Air Force was underdeveloped at the time and could not soften Vietcong defenses and China withdrew its forces from Vietnam due to heavy resistance and losses in just 6 months.
The US aimed to dismantle the
Al-Qaeda Network in this region in connection with the broader War On Terror initiative to bring perpetrators of the 9/11 incident to justice and the US has done a good job in the matter. The US has arrested and killed thousands of terrorists with links to the Al-Qaeda Network around the world including its most influential members:
The US-led forces toppled Taliban setup in Afghanistan in 2001 because it was supporting the Al-Qaeda Network in the region but Taliban leadership agreed to drop this support in exchange for American withdrawal in Doha Accords in 2020. Trump accepted this deal because he wasn't interested in rebuilding Afghanistan or reshaping its political landscape. This is also a political decision and not a defeat in the battlefield.
Trump has America First mentality - he wants to invest in American infrastructure, industries, and defenses. He does not care about rebuilding distant countries. To him, American effort to rebuild and reshape political landscape of Afghanistan is "ridiculous."
The US-led forces overwhelmed Iraqi defenses in a Blitzkrieg operation in 2003 but were stationed in Iraqi military bases to give a sense of normalcy to Iraqi citizens. The pressing challenge was in the fact that Saddam had reshaped Iraqi institutions to serve him and his political movement in the shape of the Baath Party. The US decided to dismantle this setup and reboot Iraqi political landscape with De-Baathification initiative and it
intensified social, sectarian and political divisions across the country.
Different Iraqi resistance groups popped up in some Iraqi cities such as
Ramadi,
Husaybah,
Najaf,
Samarra,
Mosul, and
Fallujah in 2004. The US-led forces fought to recover these cities and bring them under control of the post-Saddam Iraqi setup. The fighting was most violent and intense in Fallujah and the city was recaptured in second attempt but much of it was reduced to rubble in the process (
Operation Phantom Fury).
The Iran-backed Mehdi Army was operating in Iraqi cities such as Karbala, Basra, and Sadr City.
Karbala was recovered in 2007, and
Basra and
Sadr City were recovered in 2008. The Mehdi Army was a large and powerful insurgent group that claimed 600 American lives in the war but was defeated in 2008 and its leader Muqtada al-Sadr fled to Iran to avoid capture or attempts on his life. He returned to Iraq in 2011 after withdrawal of the US-led forces from Iraq in 2011.
However, war in Syria exposed Iraq to a new challenge in the shape of the ISIL movement in 2013 that was able to find many recruits in both countries and also draw recruits from other countries. The ISIL movement came close to toppling the post-Saddam Iraqi setup in 2014 but the US intervened to prevent its collapse and defeat ISIL movement in a well-planned and executed operation
that will continue till 2026. American troops returned to Iraq in 2014 to restructure local resistance fronts and the US-led forces liberated
Mosul and
Raqqa in 2017.
War in Iraq presented significant challenges to occupying forces because Iraq is a land where different civilizations and political identities meet, clash, and/or attempt to co-exist or find a way forward. This is Mesopotamia - one of the most significant regions of the world. People in this region are known to fight.
The US has managed to dismantle Saddam setup and reshape Iraqi political landscape. This is by no means a small achievement. Iran also aimed to do it in the 1980s but Iranian forces could not even take Basra in a war that lasted 8 years. Arab countries also felt that it will take a superpower to reshape political landscape of Iraq.
Mate, you need a new history teacher. If you think that the US has a done bad job then other countries have much less to show in comparison.
Ask Mao about defeat of China in South Korea and also in Vietnam. This is not a jab at the Chinese for they are talented and capable people and I am not trying to discredit Chinese sacrifices in different fronts. Chinese forces saved North Korea in the Korean War and defeated Indian forces in a fierce border clash in 1962. But a war can be very difficult to fight in a region where technological superiority is not established.
China is creating a significant military force but we don't know how it will perform in some regions because the US is willing to test its technology in distant conflict situations while China is reluctant to do so. For perspective, the US was willing to test its technology in Red Sea when Houthi were attacking shipments bound for Israel but China ignored this conflict situation.
What Red Sea Battles Have Taught The Navy About A Future China Fight
The US is not fighting to colonize other countries in modern times and does not have to bring much of its power to bear in every conflict situation. The US put together a big force to annex lands of the Mexican Empire, defeat the Central Powers in World War 1, defeat the Axis Powers in World War 2, and to liberate Kuwait from Iraq in 1991. These are but a handful of conflict situations.
The US also put together a large force for the Vietnam War but could not utilize it effectively in this region due to its terrain full of forests, mountains, and marches. However, the US is learning from its operational experiences around the world and has created a formidable military force that no country is keen to test in war. The US has the right set of tools to overwhelm Vietnam in the present but now both countries are on good terms and it is unnecessary.
The US did not commit a large force in other wars it has fought throughout its history. American mission in another country can be anything from a regime change operation to war profiteering in line with its
Theory of Limited War considerations. War profiteering is BIG BUSINESS and it cannot provide much profit if a war is to be concluded in a matter of days. Right?
The US has sufficient firepower to wipe out any country in war but why it should do it? To silence all naysayers? Well, a war is not fought to address naysayers but for desired political ends.
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