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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   37113 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 22, 2024

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When was the last time the United States did that in a ground war on the enemy's own territory?

Desert Storm, and arguably the initial invasion in 2003 as well before it turned into an occupation/counter-insurgency. Saddam had (on paper) the 4th largest army in the World in Desert Storm IIRC.

Don't forget: they were also battle hardened after a decade of war against Iran.

I'm sort of disinclined to consider Iraq a near-peer for technological, cultural and economic reasons, but some of that might be hindsight bias. My understanding is that American casualties were far lighter at the time in Desert Storm than anticipated.

Hmm, OK, DoD definition of a peer competitor here:

"A peer competitor, as the term is used here, is a state or collection of challengers with the power and motivation to confront the United States on a global scale in a sustained way and to a sufficient level where the ultimate outcome of a conflict is in doubt even if the United States marshals its resources in an effective and timely manner." (Source)

And it seems like in 2017 the DoD considered Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as near-peer. Personally I think there's a huge difference between 2017 North Korea/Iran and China/Russia, but the definition of "collection of challengers" might be doing some of the work there.

I think that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea in 2017 are all look harder than Desert Storm actually was, but I also think that it's easier to say that in hindsight. I definitely don't think it's appropriate to consider Iraq a "near-peer" in the sense Russia is or was, however.

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