The Chinese came across and attacked us. A friend of mine, now deceased, was with Chesty at the reservoir. Two hundred thousand Chinese came across the Yalu (the army that cast no shadow) marching on foot during the night and hiding during the day. They entered North Korea, their ally. The Soviets provided air cover. They routed the 8th Army and sent them on the longest retreat in their history.
but General McArthur did want to strike back in diverse other places, but Truman fired him.
MacArthur wanted to use air power to attack the PRC including nukes, if needed, and employ Chinese troops from Taiwan. He wanted to win. Truman wanted a limited war, which has been our policy since. Vietnam was the prime example of gradual escalation and an unwillingness to destroy the enemy with nothing off limits, e.g., the dikes and port facilities.
HOWEVER, in the case of ISIS and Syria, the Syrian territory was no longer Syrian as ISIS controlled it completely. They beat the government forces there and sent them packing. We were not (or I think we both agree SHOULD not be) fighting Assad's Syria but rather ISIS.
ISIS was occupying Syrian territory, but it was not a sovereign nation. Just because rebels occupy territory whether it is in Columbia, the Philippines, Ukraine, Iraq, etc. doesn't mean that the territory is no longer part of the sovereign nation. No country in the world recognized ISIS as a sovereign nation.
Tell that to the many killed by US drones in Pakistan. We do what we want in Waziristan without asking permission of Pakistan. We don't need or want boots on the ground THERE for a variety of reasons, but we don't let it be a hands-off location for the Taliban to operate from.
Mere pinpricks and hardly an all out attack to take out the Taliban, AQ, and ISIS. List of drone strikes in Pakistan 2008 to 2018. We have had 10 in 2015, none in 2016, four in 2017, and one in 2018. These have been targeted attacks against small groups and individuals. We have not used massive air raids against the Taliban and their allies who use Pakistan as a sanctuary. The vast majority of the attacks were approved by the GOP, including the ISI. There have been secret agreements with the GOP despite the Pakistani public outcry against them.
I think that was what I was saying, in essence.
MacArthur knew how to win a fight without a head-on, meat grinder assault. He was famous for hitting the enemy where they least expected.
Truman should have let MacArthur fight.
By the way, when I was in Australia I got to visit his WWII HQ. Met some folks who worked for MacArthur there.