"Winning" is a key item to define, isn't it ?
The "trouble" for the USA in these countries is that their populace tends to believe they "won" if the crusaders/great satans/non-believers didn't occupy their land and wipe them out in the style of Rome wrapping up the Punic Wars.
All that goes back to the poor bloody infantry occupying turf with bayonet fixed to their rifle. And that leads back to the desire to avoid casualties ... gee, isn't it fun to blow up things and people if we don't bleed while doing it ? Ugh. While I understand the political imperative underlying this approach, in another sense, it is a betrayal of ancient chivalric traditions in warfare. While anyone can push a button to blow something or someone up, it takes a special kind of person to engage in close-quarters combat.
I also wanted to mention I fully agree with FCD's take on making -everything- too damned expensive. For unmanned systems, we should be able to build low cost devices by the hundreds of thousands (reborn arsenal of democracy) instead of falling prey to the disease of "German design" -- size queen fixation and grossly exaggerated complexity of systems.
The "trouble" for the USA in these countries is that their populace tends to believe they "won" if the crusaders/great satans/non-believers didn't occupy their land and wipe them out in the style of Rome wrapping up the Punic Wars.
All that goes back to the poor bloody infantry occupying turf with bayonet fixed to their rifle. And that leads back to the desire to avoid casualties ... gee, isn't it fun to blow up things and people if we don't bleed while doing it ? Ugh. While I understand the political imperative underlying this approach, in another sense, it is a betrayal of ancient chivalric traditions in warfare. While anyone can push a button to blow something or someone up, it takes a special kind of person to engage in close-quarters combat.
I also wanted to mention I fully agree with FCD's take on making -everything- too damned expensive. For unmanned systems, we should be able to build low cost devices by the hundreds of thousands (reborn arsenal of democracy) instead of falling prey to the disease of "German design" -- size queen fixation and grossly exaggerated complexity of systems.
Fire In The Hole