Tell Me About That Expectation of ‘Not Escalating a Regional Conflict’

(Washington Post) U.S. strikes in Syria and Iraq kill dozens of militants. U.S. strikes against Iran-linked militants in Iraq and Syria killed dozens of fighters and several civilians, according to the Iraqi government, militia groups and a local monitoring network on Saturday, in the Biden administration’s first round of retaliatory action for an attack last week in Jordan that killed three U.S. troops.

We have absolutely no idea of who we killed

None. Zero, nada. So, here we go again, with the old American knee a jerkin’ because we’re pissed at Iran. So, we go after what we choose to call ‘their proxies’ and Biden thinks “that’s that, done and dusted.”

Which, of course, is utter foolishness, but it begs a question. Why (and how) did we happen to lose three American troops…and wound forty more, in Jordan?

Jordan?

Why were we even there?

(global affairs.org) As of September 2022, there are 171,736 active-duty military troops across 178 countries, with the most in Japan (53,973), Germany (35,781), and South Korea (25,372). These three countries also have the most U.S. military bases – 120, 119, and 73, respectively. 

There are around 750 U.S. military bases in at least 80 countries, though Al Jazeera says the number “may be even higher as not all data is published by the Pentagon.” 

Many U.S. military bases were built after World War II “when the U.S. took position as the global leader and peacekeeper in and around Japan and Germany,” which explains why those two countries have the most bases. Then the Cold War and the Korean War gave the U.S. another reason for global military expansion – to contain communism.

And how has that worked out?

Well, let’s see. We lost 58,000 Americans in Viet Nam before getting chased out by what we chose to call ‘insurgents,’ tail between our legs. They were Vietnamese, fighting a civil war for their country, but I guess an insurgency is in the eye of the beholder. In a $1 trillion war that keeps on taking, the United States pays $22 billion per year in war compensations to Vietnam veterans and their families. The nation is still communist.

We went on to attack Iraq, a sovereign nation George Bush lied to us about having both evil intents and weapons of mass destruction—whatever that means. None were found and we left a hanged ruler, a ruined nation, a lot of abandoned military equipment, and just over $1.1 trillion in costs.

President Georgie responded to the 9-11 attack by starting a 20-year war with the wrong country, which we again got chased out of at a cost of something over $2.3 trillion.

So, we’re six or seven trillion dollars out-of-pocket and nothing has changed, except for America being considered a war criminal.

What has changed, worldwide, is the opportunity to poke the United States in the eye

Jordan is an example we dare not misunderstand. The three American troops dead there—and forty wounded—were killed by a drone attack. Drones can be made and weaponized in a garage, by any medium-skilled mechanic.

We might consider the ‘target opportunity’ we have made of ourselves by having 172,000 active-duty military troops across 178 countries.

As America has proven, in every war since WWII, getting into conflict is easy and getting out is hellishly complicated and expensive. National pride and looking strong with an election coming up are fool’s errands.

Joe Biden is not a fool, but that doesn’t change the definition of the errand.