Vietnam. We "won the peace." Sure, after 50k casualties, in a war that never mattered. Primarily "won the peace" because Vietnam was neighbors with China (even fought a war) and wanted to reach out to the west. BTW, Vietnam is still communist, and goodness, the dominoes didn't fall after Saigon.
Iraq. A functioning parliament. Sure. This is a country barely held together. And thousands upon thousand died in our invasion and its aftermath. And $1.5 trillion sure would go far today (adjusted for inflation).
Afghan. "So you cut your losses." Afghanistan is a complete wreck, a graveyard of empires. Trillions spent there, so many lives lost for almost nothing.
Iran. "We're not going to like invade...though we could." Iran is physically huge and has 90 million people. The idea that the US could invade and occupy without a tremendous cost is just a fantasy of neocons. And they'll naturally assemble a more "reasonable government" just because we blow their shit up. When has this ever worked?
The US hasn't really been the world's policeman since WW2. Almost all of its interventions have been mildly corrupt if not outright. Even Desert Storm wasn't a necessary fight. Who really cared about the Kuwaitis? Only the threat that Saddam would continue into Saudi Arabia motivated the West.
Vietnam. We "won the peace." Sure, after 50k casualties, in a war that never mattered. Primarily "won the peace" because Vietnam was neighbors with China (even fought a war) and wanted to reach out to the west. BTW, Vietnam is still communist, and goodness, the dominoes didn't fall after Saigon.
Iraq. A functioning parliament. Sure. This is a country barely held together. And thousands upon thousand died in our invasion and its aftermath. And $1.5 trillion sure would go far today (adjusted for inflation).
Afghan. "So you cut your losses." Afghanistan is a complete wreck, a graveyard of empires. Trillions spent there, so many lives lost for almost nothing.
Iran. "We're not going to like invade...though we could." Iran is physically huge and has 90 million people. The idea that the US could invade and occupy without a tremendous cost is just a fantasy of neocons. And they'll naturally assemble a more "reasonable government" just because we blow their shit up. When has this ever worked?
The US hasn't really been the world's policeman since WW2. Almost all of its interventions have been mildly corrupt if not outright. Even Desert Storm wasn't a necessary fight. Who really cared about the Kuwaitis? Only the threat that Saddam would continue into Saudi Arabia motivated the West.