“Should’ve taken Douglas McArthur’s advise.”
Patton had similar advice about Russia. We are a paper tiger now and the world pretty much knows it. The only way to fix that would be stomp the crap out of some country and leave. The worst thing we’ve done is stay in Iraq and Afghanistan all this time with nothing to show for it. Unfortunately, our own people can’t stomach something like that anymore anyway. Give it 50 years, and we might as well fly a chinese flag here cause if they have not beaten us militarily, they will have financially anyway.
After 9/11, I said pretty much the same thing you did - the only way to deal with an asymetrical opponent is to use an equally asymetrical response.
You wipe out a complex of buildings in NYC, we make your entire country unlivable for 50 years or so.
And yes, you do drones first and then you mop up after the anti-aircraft and artillery is disabled.
Let the world then debate the wisdom of a nuclear response to asymetrical warfare. At least there would be a world left to consider it, and one in which nobody had the shadow of a doubt that the US would use its arsenal.
By far, this point, and this ONLY point is the one that broke the USSR - they were CONVINCED Reagan would use nukes on the Soviets in a first strike.