American soldiers can still win wars, but it has to be a real war where there is something genuine at stake, like protecting one’s home and family.
Philip Giraldi – Strategic Culture April 8, 2021
It hardly made the evening news, but the New York Times reported last week that after twenty years of fighting the Taliban are confident that they will fully control Afghanistan before too long whether or not the United States decides to leave some kind of residual force in the country after May 1st. The narrative is suggestive of The Mouse that Roared, lacking only Peter Sellers to put the finishing touches on what has to be considered a great humiliation for the U.S., which has a “defense” budget that is larger than the combined military spending of the next seven countries in order of magnitude. Those numbers include both Russia and China. The Taliban, on the other hand, have no military budget to speak of. That enormous disparity, un-reflected in who has won and lost, has to nurture concerns that it is the world’s only superpower, admittedly self-proclaimed, which is incapable of actually winning a war against anyone.
In fact, some recent wargaming has suggested that the United States would lose in a non-nuclear conflict with China alone based on the obsolescence of expensive and vulnerable weapons systems that the Pentagon relies upon, such as carrier groups. Nations like China, Iran and Russia that have invested in sophisticated and much cheaper missile systems to offset U.S. advantages have reportedly spent their money wisely. If the Biden foreign policy and military experts, largely embroiled in diversifying the country, choose to take on China, there may be no one left around to pick up the pieces.
Those who are warning of the apparent ineffectiveness of the U.S. armed forces in spite of their global presence in more than one thousand bases point most commonly to the historical record to make their case. Korea, fought under United Nations auspices, was a stalemate, with the peninsula divided to this day and a substantial American military force continuing to be a presence along the DMZ to enforce the armistice that not quite ended the war. Vietnam was a defeat, resulting in more than 58,000 Americans dead as well as an estimated 3 million Vietnamese, most of whom were civilians. The real lesson learned from Vietnam was that fighting on someone else’s turf where you have no real interests or stake in the outcome is a fool’s game, but the Pentagon instead worked to fix the mechanics in weapons and training at great cost without addressing why people fight wars in the first place. The other lesson was that the United States’ military was perfectly willing to lie to the country’s civilian leadership to expand the war and keep it going, a performance that was repeated in 2001 with the “Iraq is supporting terrorists and will have nuclear weapons” lies and also with the current crop of false analogies used to keep thousands of Americans in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
As a veteran of the Vietnam War army, I can recall sitting around with fellow enlisted men reading “Stars & Stripes,” the exclusive in-house-for-the-military newspaper that was covering the war. The paper quoted a senior officer who opined that the Soviets (as they were at that time) were really envious of the combat experience that the United States Army was obtaining in Vietnam. We all laughed. That same officer probably had a staff position away from the fighting but we draftees knew well that the war was a very bloody mistake while he may have tested his valor post-retirement working for Lockheed-Martin. The “Soviets” in any event demonstrated just how much they envied the experience of combat when they fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s, eventually withdrawing with their tails between their legs just as the U.S. had done in Vietnam after they lost 15,000 men. The “Grave of Empires,” indeed.
Since Vietnam there have been a number of small wars in places like Panama and Grenada, but the global war on terror has been a total disaster for American arms. Afghanistan, as it was for the Russians, is the ulcer that keeps on bleeding until it ends as a major defeat for the United States with the Taliban fully in control, as they are now predicting. Likewise, the destruction of a secular Iraq, regime change in Libya, and a continuing war against a non-threatening Syria have all failed to make Americans either safer or more prosperous. Iran is next, apparently, if the Joe Biden Administration has its way, and relations with major adversaries Russia and China have sunk even lower than they were during Donald Trump’s time as president. The White House has recently sent a shipload of offensive weapons to Kiev and the Ukrainian government has repeated its intention to retake Crimea from Russia, a formula for a new military disaster that could easily escalate into a major war. What is particularly regrettable is the fact that the United States has no compelling national interest in encouraging open warfare between Moscow and Kiev, a conflict that it will be unable to avoid as its is supplying Ukraine with weaponry.
There was almost no discussion of America’s wars during the recent election. One should take note, however, of a recent article by former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb that appeared on National Review which seeks to provide an explanation for “The Real Reason the U.S. Can’t Win Wars Anymore” in spite of the fact that it is “the most powerful country in the history of the world.” To be sure, Korb largely blames the policymakers for the defeat in Vietnam, aided and abetted by a culture of silence in the military where many officers knew that the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which escalated the conflict, was a fraud but chose to say or do nothing. He also observes that the war itself was unwinnable for various reasons, including the observation by many working and middle class Americans that they were little more than cannon fodder while the country’s elites either dodged the draft or exploited their status to obtain national guard or reserve commissions that were known to be mechanism to avoid Vietnam. Korb notes that “…the four most recent presidents who could have served in Vietnam avoided that war and the draft by dubious means. Bill Clinton pretended to join the Army ROTC; George W. Bush used political connections to get into the Air National Guard, when President Johnson made it clear that the reserve component would not be activated to fight the war; Donald Trump, of course, had his family physician claim he had bone spurs, (Trump himself cannot remember which foot); and Joe Biden claimed that the asthma he had in high school prevented him from serving even though he brags about his athletic exploits while in high school.”
Korb also reveals how America’s presumed prowess on the battlefield has distorted its “democracy building” endeavors to such an extent that genuine national interests have been ignored. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, success in overthrowing the Taliban was derived from critical assistance from Iran, which correctly regarded the extremist Sunni group as an enemy. But the Bush White House, far from showing gratitude, soon thereafter added Iran to its “axis of evil” list. A golden opportunity was wasted to repair a relationship which has poisoned America’s presence in the Middle East ever since.
One might add something else to Korb’s assessment of failure at war. Most American soldiers have been and are proud of their service and consider it an honor to defend their country but the key word is “defend.” There was no defending going on in Vietnam nor in Afghanistan, which did not attack the U.S. and was willing to turn over Osama Bin Laden if the White House could provide evidence that he was involved in 9/11. Nor was there anything defensive about Obama’s destruction of Libya and the decades long “secret” wars to overthrow the Syrian and Iranian governments. Soldiers are trained to fight and obey orders but that does not mean that they can no longer observe and think. Twenty years of “Reconstruction” duty in Afghanistan is not defending the United States and the morale of American soldiers in the combined Democratic and Republican Parties’ plan to reconstruct the world is not a sufficient motivator if one is being asked to put one’s life on the line. Sure, American soldiers can still win wars, but it has to be a real war where there is something genuine at stake, like protecting one’s home and family. That is what the people who run Washington, very few of whom are veterans and most of whom first ask “But what’s in it for me?” fail to understand.
Philip Giraldi, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest.
These American soldiers were NOT defending their country they were fighting for the interests of the Internatonal bankers, the money changers that jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler fought against
the same people we fought 2 world wars for, the same people who did 9 11 killed the kennedys and gave us the covid,
The same people who are now land clearing Syria and sending all the people as robbed refugees over to us to feed and house
The USA basically fights wars in the Middle East for Israel. The mouse controls the elephant.
Of course The US COULD have won the war in both Vietnam and Afghanistan.
They could have easily bombed Hanoi to smithereens…..and taken out the supply lines to the North.
They COULD have destroyed food crops etc.
Same applies to Afghanistan.The US had the capacity to destroy food crops causing widespread starvation.
They could have destroyed the opium poppy crops thereby cutting off revenue to the Taliban.
In short something else was going on….
Apparently US military planes were used to carry opium crops outside the country.None of this can be verified since the media is far too corrupt in the USA.
You have that horrid old jewess Barbara Walters pretending to be a journalist….whose estimated wealth is said to be over 50,000,000 dollars.
It would be hilarious if things were not so serious…..The most powerful country in the world led by a pathetic idiot with Alzheimers.
This is how civilisations collapse….you’ve even got an invasion taking place just like in Roman times.
There are even traitors opening the gates inviting in the invaders.
there is nothing left for the US troops to steal
experts say never trust any truth blog you have to sign into and the Tap blog is officially listed as a bollox site
but you do occasionally get something good on it such as this article
https://tapnewswire.com/2021/04/the-other-great-reset-1666-and-the-not-so-great-fire-of-london/
America’s defence budget has nothing to do with having a strong defence but a lot do with making a few people very rich. Dick Cheney hated Americans and charged 67 million dollars to move some equipment in Iraq during the invasion he helped organise. Americans get robbed by the Jews even while serving them. As for Afghanistan, the Empire was having to fight Russia more than the locals.
If Joe really wanted to build some kind of support, he would remove ALL of the troops in the various illegal/immoral actions, at least a few of the bases,
pull completely out of Africa, put those troops on our southern border… you may say I’m a dreamer, but Im’m not the only one…
I wonder if Biden is going to remind us the USA is exceptional and indispensable?
Probably only if Obama tells him.
boys come back home : DEFEND YOUR COUNTRY AGAINST
THE WHITE TERRORISTS : trump suporters, white racists, white
antisemites, truth tellers, jew media boycotters, conspiration theoreticers,
citizens not handing out their legal arms , vaccine boycotters, refusers
of happy communism, antigays, antipedofiles, antifeminists, antilockdowners etc etc . there are a lot of terrorists in your homecountry !
“….but it has to be a real war where there is something genuine at stake, like protecting one’s home and family.”
There IS a ‘real war’ going on, right now, and our home and families ARE in danger, but since ‘we have met the enemy, and he is us’, there would be no paycheck in it, so better to come home, redeploy to Zionist Ukraine, and go fight another useless war supporting tyranny, aggression, hegemony, and the US/UK/Israeli ‘Axis of Evil’.
For a paycheck, of course.
When this mess first started, I approached a friend who is an ex-SEAL (as well as some other Spec Ops acquaintances) and I asked him/them; ‘So when do we go Gray State’?
“It’s just a mask, dude”
I was really shocked by all these ex-warrior ‘badasses’ who seem to see nothing wrong with the destruction of the country they ‘fought to protect’ – by killing people protecting THEIR country from a foreign invader, while being labeling ‘insurgents’ or ‘terrorists’.
Very good point, Cornelius!
What were they defending?
Drog routes?
And like Ted says, they could easily have won.
I’ve always wondered why that hasn’t stod out moore.
Something else is at play.
Now we know!
Zionist occupied US wasted 7,000,000,000,000 USD in the region, that money was spent just for CENTCOM in the middle-east to counter Iran and its allies and achieved nothing substantial, in fact Iran and it’s allies are at the peak of their military strength today. Every US citizen’s share could be about 23000$ assuming a constant 300 million US population, with that money US could be completely transformed…. but they decided to devastate middle-east region instead.
Having failed to defeat Taliban, how could they defeat ISIS which was 10 times worse? They assassinated the man behind the defeat of ISIS. It is clear these idiot zombie ISIS fighters were working for Zionists.
Listen to Christopher Bollyn and Understand why America is fighting these Wars. These wars have had a devastating affect on America and the World.
The Taliban didn’t have the capabilities, or abilities to Attack America on September 11 2001. This event was years in the making and was supposed to happen at least 10 years, the Zionits definitely had a dry Run in 1993 but what was crucial was getting ownership of those Buildings. Larry Silverstein owned Twin tower’s, Buildings 7 and 3 were destroyed in a Controlled demolition that day.
Isrsel wants to Balkanize The Middle East Iraq and Syria getting them split into Sunni, Shiites, Alawhites Christian’s. Iraq is complete, Syria is resisting but its Oil facilities are in the Hands of America so any rebuilding of Syria will be hard with out Funds.
Lybia was destroyed and now has Terror factions Badked and trained by the West 100%.
Everytime America says Democracy is needed in certain countries it really means, occupation, changing the countries politics, making the nation poorer.
Perfect Example of this is Lybia. What Lybians had under Gaddafi was envied by Africa.
6 cents a litre for fuel, If you married 50% was paid by the Lybian Government, Lybia would pay for you studies abroad if you wanted to. Lybia Gov would cover the costs to start up business by 50% and intrest free a loans. Super cheap electricity, 50% payment for a New Car.
This really irked America so they bought Freedumb tomthe place destroyed it, And the icing on the cake was A Lybian Central bank.
The trigger for all this was Gaddaffi wanting to create a African Dinar backed by Gold.
America couldn’t allow that as it Invaded Iraq because Saddam Switched selling Oil in US dollar to Euro’s and America bought 3 million barrels of Oil off Iraq then and had to convert US dollars to Euros so they would have to exchange goods with Europe asnthey had No printing machine that could print Euros. This Fiat scam is the greatest swindle in History.
Israel wants to see America burnt to the ground as it has already lined up a replacement and that is China.
Ohhh ! Come on Philip Giraldi .. The last US Air Force plane taking off from Kabul has a banner flying behind, saying “Mission Accomplished” ??
@Ted you seem ill informed when you claim it was the Taliban who was profiting from Heroin!
In actual fact the only reason they went for Afghanistan was entirely down to the Taliban all but stopping Heroin production in the country, in 2000 there were massive shortages of Heroin in the UK and I would imagine the US and Europe also as a result.
The Taliban was burning every poppy crop they come across and executing the growers and transporters when caught in the act.
Since everyone knows the Western intelligence services and black ops are all but the backbone of the drug empire, allowing them to keep their illegal black ops off the books for public scrutiny, given no one knows the income from drugs, or where it is spent, vs public funds that have to be declared, even if they do creative accounting and charge thousands to buy a toilet seat etc… We all know they were pushing for the invasion to restore the worlds heroin supply, given more than half the worlds heroin (probably higher) comes from Afghansitan!
The fact that the Chinese discovered vast mineral reserves worth trillions is also a factor, but that was around the time the US invaded, which would indicate the war with the Taliban was planned at least a few years before those minerals were discovered.
Anyways back to your claims the US could have won Vietnam and Afghanistan, you support war crimes to win a war? You really think the US would have got away with that if they did such an act? The public would have rioted and even went as far as coup among the military leaders or a civil war.
But had it happened in this day and age, everyone would be too busy worrying about covid and the latest tiktok/social media trends etc…
@ Ellis taylor
Good article. The Jews were readmitted to England in 1656 during the Cromwellian Commonwealth period and ten years later the Great Fire of London took place, which strongly benefitted creditors and usurers.
Coincidence? I think not.
american politic exployting other nations is
old jewish american way since 1913 and
continued under fd roosevelt, eisenhower,
johnson, bushes, clinton, obama, trump.
lets see what biden/harris are doing .
Unless I missed their mention, P. Giraldi fails to discuss key elements of the US Afghanistan experience: poppies, opioid production, and profiting by trafficking narcotics — never mind the denigration of individuals and destruction of once integral societies. In failing to do so, he tarnishes with the same brush the publisher of this limited hang-out, misdirection, and disinformation. Piffle, I say.