[hash9]

When was the last time they used that "explosive power" to good effect? They got humiliated in Afghanistan and Russia isn't even scared to act out any more. The only people who think America still rules the world is it's delusional populace.

[idiotsecant]

America is unquestionably the foremost cultural, financial , and military power on earth. The fact that your best example is a war that america lost voluntarily because they were unwilling to engage in scorched earth tactics is pretty telling. Afghanistan was a quagmire with no real starting goal, no real end condition, and no motivation to fight. If america decided to drop a few platoons into the country and massacre civilians with mechanized infantry and close air support it would have been over in a month, but to what end? It would make them barely better than the Russians who tried to actually use those tactics and didn't have the resources to pull it off.

[arresin]

Both conflicts were about punishment and troop training, and they achieved that. If they wanted to they could have razed every square km with conventional weapons alone.

[churchill]

Americans keep saying this and it makes me laugh every time, because you didn't learn anything from Vietnam.

Just like in Vietnam, the stated goal was to replace the government - in this case, to remove the Taliban - that's why you created the Afghan National Army and their flimsy democracy. All told, the US has spent $8 trillion and several thousand young men on the GWOT. Once the US pulled out, the Taliban strolled back into Kabul.

$8 trillion will reduce the US debt by 25%, or pay off all student debt, or build 80 million $100k homes. Wasted, and the only thing you have to show for it is nothing tangible, except more vibrant terror groups, and immigrants flooding Europe. Meanwhile, 8k US veterans die by suicide yearly.

You had the firepower but failed to achieve your political goals. Just like in Vietnam, Iran, Syria, Laos, Cambodia, and more countries than I care to mention. While ruining the lives of innocent millions, of course.

So, you failed. Admitting it might be hard, but it will bring the US to a place of humility and help you avoid adventures like this going forward.

And to be pedantic, no you can't raze every sq. km of 652,860 km². Assuming, even just 1000 tons of explosives per km2, that's nearly 700 million tons of explosives. At $30k a ton, you'd be spending $21 trillion on enough explosives.

[jb1991]

> and immigrants flooding Europe

You are blaming the US for that?

[churchill]

Yes, for destabilizing Libya and Syria. Those millions of Syrian immigrants that suddenly started flooding Europe had been living contently in their homeland. What changed starting in 2014? Gaddafi was a major force in stemming illegal immigration through the Sahara. What changed in Libya in 2011?

[petre]

The US hasn't destabilized Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, yet they get migrants from those countries. And Gaddafi also got screwed by Szarkozy and Tony Blair. The US probably had other plans which didn't quite work out as intended.

[churchill]

Hah! The US has a long and shameful history of meddling in Latin America: coups, outright invasions (Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua, Honduras, etc.) and overthrows or assassinations of democratically-elected leaders considered leftist.

Arbenz in Guatemala, Allende in Chile, etc.

Haiti: Historian Hans Schmidt notes that, “US Navy ships visited Haitian ports to ‘protect American lives and property’ in 1857, 1859, 1868, 1869, 1876, 1888, 1889, 1892, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, and 1913. Finally, tired of all those round trips, the U.S. occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934."

Among others, in the 1980s, a Guatemalan military that received U.S. support carried out scorched earth campaigns that massacred upwards of 200,000 mostly indigenous people [1].

And that's before you count all the other American-trained and armed military juntas that systematically murdered, tortured, and raped millions of dissidents "leftists" with Uncle Sam's blessing.

Wikipedia has an entire page on it: go take a look. [2]

[1] https://repmcgovern.medium.com/decades-of-us-intervention-ha.... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

> They got humiliated in Afghanistan

We gave up and left for political reasons. Any humiliation was self-inflicted.