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Minimally, I think this war is a wake-up call to a world which has wondered if the US tiger still has any teeth. I am pretty sure the governments of countries which have supported or harbored anti-US terrorists are taking note: For most countries, a war against the US would be a futile exercise, and especially if we just fought and left. The riskiest part of this war is yet to come: the temporary occupation of the Iraq. If we got pissed off at Syria or Iran and didn't care about nation-building, they'd get all of the bad and none of the good from us.
Think about what other countries would be up against:
We now have a bomb which breaks into bomblets, each separately targeted, which destroyed an entire Iraqi tank column. Think about that: one bomb=one tank column. And it's a "conventional weapon."
We have unmanned, guided kamikase planes (drone missiles) useful for purposes as diverse as destroying military hardware, military bases, or enemy leaders.
We have guns which shoot farther and more accurately than those possessed by anyone else.
As for an air force, Iraq hasn't even put a single plane in the air since the war started, even though they teased our patrols of the "no fly zone" regularly before the war began.
In short, we are losing about as many (or more) guys to equipment malfunctions, equipment failures and accidents, and friendly fire there than we are losing to enemy fire. They enemy doesn't even get the glory of saying "Well, we put up a good fight."
Only a very, very lucky shot can damage a Bradley tank (they have explosive armor, which means when a projectile hits the tank, an explosion occurs neutralizing the energy of the shell and deflecting it).
Even our foot soldiers on the ground (probably the riskiest job) wear body armor and are relatively less at risk to many kinds of lethal rifle and pistol bullets as well as shrapnel than the enemy. They are much more likely to come home injured but alive than the enemy. Our field hospitals over there are reporting that, in general, the injuries of the US troops are much less serious than those of the typical Iraqi troops which are brought in (yes, we treat injured Iraqi soldiers, too).
I think the US has just announced a new playing field.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if the US started talking seriously about withdrawing our troops from Turkey, Germany, and South Korea, not to mention a UN which doesn't seem to have much to offer the US anymore.
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