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Does the US have what it takes to fight... and win... a war?

Does the US have what it takes to fight... and win... a war?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 11 50.0%

  • The people do, the politicians don't.

    Votes: 1 4.5%

  • No.

    Votes: 10 45.5%
  • Total voters
    22
radcen said:
Does the US have what it takes to fight... and win... a war?
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Intestinal fortitude. Guts.

I'm purposely leaving out an "other" option.
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What country on this planet could defeat the USA in a war?

If anyone has an idea, fill us in.
 
Luftwaffe said:
It doesn't matter, the OP was if we have the guts to win A war, and WWII was a display of guts.

We bombed population centers, bombed factories, firebombed and nuked Japan, and killed many many enemies, we landed on Normandy, we suffered a lot.

But goddamn, we won, no one can take that away from us. Japan, once a mighty empire, surrendered to us unconditionally in shame, Germany, with an empire once stretching all the way to France, encompassing all of Europe, had to surrender to us. We were the victors.
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A big part of why the question was asked is precisely because the US societal mindset of today is far different from the societal mindset of the 1940s.
 
Part of the problem I see is that people adhere to antiquated notions as to the form war takes. We see it in terms of nation states squaring off against one another over territory, or various disputes that follow a fairly organized pattern.

The current war is seldom articulated properly, as it involves civilizational values, political and religious ideology and occurs within the borders of western nation states as well as from without. There are no fronts in this war as it is being conducted everywhere.

In this regard, I haven't seen much evidence that too many people are willing to fight it. How can they fight it when they do not understand it and so often act as apologists for that which we are fighting? We are fighting for a way of life -- or SHOULD be if people only understood the nature of the conflict. Too many of us are focused on infighting and partisanship to even recognize the war that is being waged.
 
APACHERAT said:
Until recently, America has always been a warrior nation just like Great Britain, Germany, Russia, etc.

But the demographics in America have severely changed over the past few decades. We now have tens of millions of Americans and immigrants who are not warriors or came from a warrior mentality nation.

The American or British soldier wasn't superior to the German soldier, the only time the Germans were defeated on the battlefield was when they were superiorly outnumbered.

The reason Germany was defeated during WW ll was because unlike the USA, UK and the USSR, Germany didn't or waited to long to fight a total war. Total war being that the civilian population and industry has to be completely mobilized participating in the war effort. Everything was rationed, gasoline, shoes, butter, meat, etc. You couldn't purchase a new car or replace a tire with a new tire.

Where as the German population still wanted their chocolate, cigarettes, brats and Oktoberfest. Germany didn't go on to a total war footing until it was too late.

The U.S. military was never defeated on the battlefields of Vietnam. The war could have ended in 1966 if LBJ wasn't micromanaging the war by forcing PC rules of engagement upon the Navy and Air Force over North Vietnam. The war was actually won after the defeat of VC and NVA forces during the Tet Offensive of 68 until Walter Cronkite got on television and lied to the American people.
When the last American soldiers left the RVN in 1973 the mission was accomplished, South Vietnam hadn't fallen under communism and every province in South Vietnam was left in full control of ARVAN.

Today, the Russian people aren't scared to fight and if Russia decided to go to war you would see one million Russians volunteering to fight for Mother Russia.

America use to be like that, always willing to get into a fight, always hundreds of thousands volunteering to fight for America. But the demographics have changed in America and Americans have become pantywaist softies who depend on technology. Pizza Huts in a theatre of combat. :lamo The military being used for social engineering experimentation. :screwy A soldier, sailor or Marine talks like a soldier, sailor or Marine and the PC police call for their punishment or walking the plank :eek:
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Remember 9/11? Remember the patriotic fervor, and increased enlistments? Hell I almost went back to the MEPS center to try to force them to induct me again, even though I was just about past the age and had a small child by myself. Had to talk myself out of it.

If America was seriously threatened... if we were being bombed or invaded... you'd get ten million volunteers from the South by next Tuesday.
 
radcen said:
Does the US have what it takes to fight... and win... a war?

Intestinal fortitude. Guts.

I'm purposely leaving out an "other" option.
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I can't vote. None of your options works for me.

A351 said it: "Given the right war, Yes." And I'd add "absolutely. But nation-building or stabilization battles in the Middle East or any other country for that matter? No, we don't.
 
MaggieD said:
I can't vote. None of your options works for me.

A351 said it: "Given the right war, Yes." And I'd add "absolutely. But nation-building or stabilization battles in the Middle East or any other country for that matter? No, we don't.
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The soldiers do.

It's the politicians being political instead of statesmanlike, and the media joining the drama instead of supporting, that cause the people to turn away.
 
`
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things war cannot change,
The courage to sacrifice ourselves in a war when our country itself is attacked,
And wisdom to realize men and women are not expendable commodities
to fight wars for ideological and commercial purposes.​
`
 
Higgins86 said:
I was lucky enough to serve along side Americans in Iraq and the answer to the question is 100% yes. You have the numbers, they are trained, you have the best equipment and the most firepower on Earth. If push came to shove and America was forced into a total war they would destroy anyone they came up against. Now I'm a proud Brit and normally on the internet we are supposed to talk rubbish and say why the US could never beat us etc but the truth of the matter is the US would run over us and anyone in its path. If a total war scenario came about however the US would have a long list of allies so they would not be alone. The biggest worry would be what would happen to the global economy since we are all connected at the hip.
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Never heard of it, I'm a proud brit/scott with some south american ancestry as well (I identify with more of the European in me since it makes up more than half of my racial proponent) but I've never talked about the U.S not being able to defeat my brethren in Europe.

I mean, whenever a brit comes to me or my mom and tell us we have an accent we tell them back, "Doesn't matter we won the war. :)"
 
Paxaeon said:
`
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things war cannot change,
The courage to sacrifice ourselves in a war when our country itself is attacked,
And wisdom to realize men and women are not expendable commodities
to fight wars for ideological and commercial purposes.​
`
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Dick mother****ing Cheney and his croonies at Halliburton sure had a lot to win in Iraq in terms of finance.
 
America could beat any nation on the planet, and depending on what rules we play by, slaughter many of them as crude as it sounds.

If you mean in terms of willpower in foreign conflicts and nation building, it depends on the enemy and situation. Stuff like Iraq and Vietnam were wastes of resources, lives, and time. And many people were not behind such conflicts.

Paschendale said:
I don't think it's a matter of courage. I think it's a matter of stakes. There aren't any that can be won in war. There's no evil empire to fight. There's no real military threat that the industrialized world wouldn't curbstomp is parts of itself, and there's really no reason for such people to go to war. The only way we could fight a "real" war at this point would be to start one, and then we would be the evil empire. Or extraterrestrials, I guess.
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Aliens attack and unite the humanity, that'd be so Hollywood.
 
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Goshin said:
Remember 9/11? Remember the patriotic fervor, and increased enlistments? Hell I almost went back to the MEPS center to try to force them to induct me again, even though I was just about past the age and had a small child by myself. Had to talk myself out of it.

If America was seriously threatened... if we were being bombed or invaded... you'd get ten million volunteers from the South by next Tuesday.
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I concur. And those in the North and on the Left Coast would be yelling for those racist Southern red necks who serve in uniform to protect them.

Come to think of it, they did do that right after 9-11.



Remember the BRAC's held during the 1990's, Congress came out publicly saying that major military installations in the blue state north would be closed and major military bases would be concentrated in southern red states. Why would that be ?

Look at San Francisco, heavily leftist and they hate the U.S. military. Before the BRAC's during the Clinton administration you had the Army's Presidio, Fort Ord and the Navy's Mare Island NSY, Hunters Point, Alameda NAS, Moffett Field NAS, Treasure Island NS, all closed because the people of the Bay Area didn't want the military near them.

San Francisco went as far as refusing having an Iowa class battleship as a nautical museum because the S.F. City Council didn't like that buggery in the Navy was illegal. San Pedro finally got the battleship as a museum.
 
radcen said:
Does the US have what it takes to fight... and win... a war?

Intestinal fortitude. Guts.

I'm purposely leaving out an "other" option.
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We do...if faced with a sufficient threat. If we fight a war against something that is not a sufficient threat, one against an enemy that is not a real threat to America, that's one thing...but if we fight against an enemy that is a real threat to America, that's another thing altogether.
 
If the cause was right. WWII conditions. Policing actions or limited wars were the military has its hands tied by the politicians? Hell no.
 
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