[ealgeone]

We stopped playing to win. Gulf War I was the last time we opened the can of whip tail in a major way. Had we done this in Korea and Vietnam those would have been in the win column.

[PGR88]

Gulf War I was the last time we opened the can of whip tail in a major way.

Not even. I remember Bush1 stating before the war started - The goal was not to depose Saddam, we would only seek to remove him from Kuwait, Foreign soldiers would not remain in Muslim lands.

The USA had the roads open to Baghdad. Managing Iraq would have been much easier in 1991 vs. 2003. What he should have said is - "if war comes, we will pursue it to the end, and and WE will decide what happens to the Government of Saddam and Iraq."

[Responsibility2nd]

We stopped playing to win.

___________________________________

Bingo.

I believe this also applies to our so-called War on Drugs or War on Poverty.

Especially a WOD. War? Seriously? If we were truly engaging in a War on Drugs, we would see tens of thousands dead or in jail every year. Until America resembled some Islamic hell-hole or even North Korea.

But we make believe we are fighting this WOD, yet at the same time the gubmint profits off of asset forfeitures and in the case of the war on poverty, they profit off of the political base that poverty brings.

[sparklite2]

Agreed. We accepted the notion of fighting limited wars, ignoring Napoleon’s advice, “If you’re going to take Vienna, take Vienna.” In other words half-pursued war aims result in half-victories at best.

[PapaBear3625]

We stopped playing to win. Gulf War I was the last time we opened the can of whip tail in a major way.

In WW2, we were willing to kill as many as we needed to kill in order to win. We were willing to use flame throwers on bunkers. We were willing to bomb civilian cities to rubble, and kill enemy men, women and children by the tens of thousands.

The only reason the USSR didn't make a move on us during the Cold War was that they were certain that we would respond by incinerating their half of the world.

This is no longer the case.

[Terry L Smith]

The politicians fettered the military, in Vietnam.
Korea was a United Nations war, and of course,
showed the impotence of the United Nations,
before the Soviets and Red Chinese, which gave the
means to write the war plans for what became
Vietnam.

[DoodleDawg]

We stopped playing to win.

More like we get into situations where nobody can define what a win is.