As I posted on another thread, perspective and context is important. America has hammered Iran heavily. Very heavily. Also, comparing the war with other wars shows just how heavy that hammering is.
- America lost 4,492 brave soldiers during the Iraq war with over 32,000 wounded.
- America lost 2,459 brave soldiers in Afghanistan (plus 18 CIA staff and over 1,800 contractors).
- As of today, America has only lost 13 brave soldiers in the Iranian war (more like an Iranian hammering). Everyone of those 13 soldiers a real loss, but massively low compared to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Looking at equipment losses:
- Shifting to the First Gulf War, the US lost 42 combat aircraft during the 43 days of the war. Looking at total coalition losses (US and allies), the total was 75 aircraft (52 fixed wing and 23 helicopters).
- Now, compare that with the Iran war …this is day 35 I believe, and so far we have two planes shot down by Iran (F-15 and A-10), we have the F-15s Kuwait shot down by ‘accident’, and I so in some sources two helicopters that may have been shot down by Iran (maybe). Even if you add all of that, it is very CLEAR that the loss ratio is MASSIVELY different from what happened in the Gulf war.
Bottom line: Do I wish President Trump didn’t go into Iran? Yes. However, he must have had a damn good reason to do so, and the combat losses/casualties on the US side are super low. It is a total hammering if Iran. Finally, I doubt President Trump will authorize a ground invasion as that would be a total tar baby, and he’s not dumb enough to do that.
Another comparison - we fought in WWII from December 1941 to August 1945, a total of 45 months. We lost (IIRC) over 444,000 soldiers killed in action, almost 10,000 per month. We have lost 13 in just over a month in the current war.
Our society wasn’t complaining about casualties or questioning about exit strategies in Dec 1941. Our strategy was win the war, no matter the cost or how long it took. My problem with getting into these wars is that we lack the will as a society to do what we have to do to win. If we aren’t going to do what is necessary, we shouldn’t get involved to begin with. The enemy we fight is prepared to spend generations fighting and to lose millions of casualties. It’s hard to defeat an enemy when we are displaying such a lack of will
Most Americans would probably tell you that another stupid war in the Middle East isn’t worth a single American life — or even $1 out of their pockets.
THAT is the political environment today. And I know this because this is why millions of Americans voted for Trump in the first place.
“Bottom line: Do I wish President Trump didn’t go into Iran? Yes.“
Only idiots want wars. 47 years in a row Iran declared war on the US. Trump just happened to notice.
“ America has only lost 13 brave soldiers in the Iranian war (more like an Iranian hammering). Everyone of those 13 soldiers a real loss, but massively low compared to Iraq and Afghanistan.”
That’s just because we are losing faster this time.
Do you believe the CIA and the Mossad lied to Trump about how close Iran was to having a nuclear weapon?
The air fleet over there today is far smaller than what was deployed in Desert Storm. Not even close…you gotta remember, that was the very end of the Cold War before demobilization. The number of airframes was truly staggering.
I like to compare the war in Iran to the casualty rate in Chicago, which the MSM ignores.
The total casualties for the month of March in the windy city are 39 shot and killed and another 107 shot and wounded.
Year to date: 94 shot and killed, and another 296 shot and wounded.
It may require a limited incursion. I wouldn’t rule it out completely. Enough to require Iran’s dispersed forces to concentrate in the manner of the early part of the Afghan war so they can be blown up more efficiently.
Year U.S. Fatalities
2001 *12
2002 49
The vast majority of the fatalities occurred during the “screwing around” phase.
2009 317
2010 499
2011 418
2012 310
Likewise, in Iraq, the actual warfighting phase had about half the annual fatalities as the “occupation” phase.