10 years of lives, great wealth and technology to silence poor and weak nations???????????????????????? You are very deluded if you think these nations are now" independent democracies".
The only thing they need is air support and satellite reconaisance. Silence weak nations? The Taliban declared war and allowed terrorist to conduct the 911 attacks. Hell, yeah, I'd silence them! It was our silence that really caused it, not the act of silencing them. They are much better off now.
No, I simply mean it took a hell of a long time for the USA to achieve their goal with very weak nations.
...kinda like the Brits in 1776 and thereabouts. Really, some folks do need to learn a little, just a little, history.
No matter what, bhardy is Canadian, and would not ever have learned as much about American history as Americans do in their schools. No offense to him.
Thanks Beau, but I think trefoil and perhaps you are missing my point. Simply stated: It is incredibly arrogant and misguided to assume victory by simply pointing out an apparent technical advantage. Afganistan and Iraq cost the USA 10 years, enormous debt and a seriously damaged international reputation. How much damage would the USA endure battling a much nore powerful nation? Is an apparent technological advantage really enough? Yes, know your own history. You lost against a weaker nation in Vietnam. Do you understand why you lost that war?
Vietnam's a good example, and actually I thought I did get the point. The Brits sent more soldiers into the thirteen colonies than they ever had before to put down that rebellion, but wound up losing anyway. Fighting on your own soil is a powerful thing, not to be underestimated. And trying to win a guerrilla war - the Revolutionary War, in large part, once the colonials were routed at the beginning, was a guerrilla war - is almost impossible. You can also reference France trying to get a grip on Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. Wellington in support was a nice thing to have, perhaps, but the Spanish did a good job all by themselves of draining the French of a good part of the soldiers and treasure they could otherwise have used on their eastern front.