“Get there firstest with the mostest” - Nathan Bedford Forrest
“War means frighten and frighten means killing” Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The Army of U.S. Grant could win this fight in a couple of months, with the weapons they possessed at the time! Had you a Commander who was ably supported with a man like Sherman it would have been fun to watch as he marched across the Arabian peninsula and killed everything that threatened his force and destroyed anything that supported his adversary.
Patton would have laughed had Eisenhower ordered him to clean up Iraq and Afghanistan before proceeding into the heart of Europe. He would have simply ordered up Lemay’s bombers and ended the fight.
You see, the issue is not that we can’t, nor that we lack the ability! No, we lack the political will and leadership. We hamstring our combat forces with “Rules of Engagement” and favor the views of lawyers setting in the beltway.
History will be amused that a Great Power fumbled while this Islamic menace rampaged throughout the Middle East.