What is the last war that America truly won?

Question

The Korean "Conflict" ended in a draw at best, since Korea is still split in half. Some people would regard that as a loss because half is communist. Vietnam was a clear loss--we got our butts kicked.
Don't tell me the Cold War. that was a stalemate for the most part. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe imploded upon itself and more due to internal forces and people like Lech Walesa and the influence of the Pope. Last time I looked, Red China, North Korea and Vietnam were all still communist.

First Gulf War? Yeah, we moved that third world country back out of Kuwait but Saddam was still ruler for 10+ years after, and we may have suffered the 911 attacks partly because of our involvement in the Mideast and the hatred we engendered. And now? We are locked in a hopeless stalemate with fanatics that will never give up, and are really just creating more terrorism for ourselves. So by my count, World War II was the last real war we won. That's not a good record.

Answer 1

Who ever really won a war at all?

Famine, plague, billions dead
destruction
noone won, everyone looses
except the people who make and build weapons.

Answer 2

A really interesting question.
My first impulse was to say World War II, but then i reconsidered because i do think that the first gulf war was a resounding success. Saddam's army was completely humiliated and driven out of Kuwait literaly in a matter of hours. When that happened the aims of the war had been achieved. Yes, there were calls that the US army should continue to advance into Iraq, but just because we did not do that, this does not mean that the war was not won.
We can even consider the invasion of Iraq in 2003 a victory. I don't know, i kind of view it as such. The "great" army of Saddam was defeated and completely routed in about two weeks. Saddam fled and Baghdad was abandoned. The "Baghdad bloodbath" never happened. Yes, i know that there has been fighting ever since, but it has not been direclty with the remnants of some organized Iraqi army. We are fighting either against an insurgency or groups of religious fanatics.
Anyway, my choice would be the 1991 Kuwait liberation war.
Also, let us not forget the Afghanistan war. The Taliban crumbled quickly, but because they are still around, i wouldn't call that war yet complete. It might never be, giventhe situation in Afghanistan now.
Someone here was talking about the US involvement in World War II and got it all wrong. It was Hitler who declared war on the USA, not the other way around. Congress declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbour. German subs had been very careful not to repeat the mistakes of the First World War and attack US civillian shipping, the reason the US came into that war then. Of course, prior to Hitler's declaration, around 12 December 1941 i think, the USA had been sending considerable aid to Britain. We pretty much kept the British alive and fed during the difficult 1940-41 period until the tide was turned.

Answer 3

A lot of what you're talking about weren't actually wars. And the only reason Vietnam was "lost" was because of the jerkoffs in DC who would hand everything back over that the military would win. Something that's not taught to children a lot: US troops did not lose a single major battle in that entire war. The US military didn't lose, they just weren't allowed to win.

Desert Storm was a victory. The only reason Saddam was allowed to stay in power was because George H Bush listened to UN sanctions which said that US troops could remove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait, but that they couldn't pursue into Iraq and remove Saddam. I think that was a mistake. So far, with actual battle between troops, this was our last victory. Though there have been other actions with our military elsewhere. And you can't judge the war on terror as a loss, mainly because we're still FIGHTING IT. You can't judge a war as a whole until all is said and done and you can see what has been accomplished.

Of about 20 major wars in our nations history, we've won 18 or 19, depending on how you view a victory. That IS a good record militarily.

EDIT: Brainstorm, when your country actually falls into Civil War, there IS no victory. If you're lucky, casualties can be low and your loss is limited. And as far as WWII, most of the heavy fighting was NOT accomplished. The reason America finally entered into it was because Germany was winning, taking things over and Hitler was growing more and more powerful. It wasn't until America got involved and faught alongside England that the Nazi party was crippled. No matter how you look at the facts, the turning point of that war was when German subs began to attack US ships and forced FDR to send in troops and have congress declare war.

Answer 4

Why the war on Iraq? Seems like Bush used the bombing of WTC as a ploy to indulge in this war, WAR on TERRORISM is what he called it, he went after Bin Laden which was ok by me, he needed to be caught and brought to justice for his past actions, funny I remember seeing a televised statement of him saying he did not do it, yet he was found guilty, and had no choice but to admit he did it because the world had found him guilty from the onset. Poor Afghanistan is what I say!
Then shortly after all we heard is referrence's to Saddam Hussein and then the decision was made they'd go to war on Iraq, a war that started out with lies about Iraq having nuclear bombs Both England and USA should be prosecuted for purjury
Why doesn't the USA go after all those Israeli's who are killing Palestinian's with their tanks and other war arms bought from the USA, no wonder the Palestinian's are using human bombs they had no arms to start with. Israel started a war because of 2 men being captured by the enemy forces, WOW Israel wouldn't want to make you mad.
Some state the war in Iran was a bonus for USA. I'd take a hard look at that. Remember they set afire a lot of those oil fields, they reported 25, yet there were more than that. Does anyone know what that meant? Fires blazing with smoke that was so dense that it obliterated the sun. What affect did this have on Global warming? I'd say that a natural disaster such as Mount St-Helens eruption and those oil fields played havoc with our weather system. Now are you still pleased that you won the war?

Answer 5

So we have to check with you to see about military action?
War is military action to achieve political goals, and those goals are often not so firmly defined as to make analyses easy. That was true with third-generation warfare. Fourth-generation warfare is infinitely more murky by its very nature. "Hopeless" means you've lost, but not that we've lost, are stalemated, or are necessarily in any especial difficulty. Sorry the world doesn't fit your conceptions. Others will just have to take up the slack in dealing with the real world.

Answer 6

Unfortunatly, the world is not just black and white, and wars are not won or lost. Life isn't so simple. Some say we have lost every war we've been in, because of all the lives lost, and some say we've won all the wars we've been in because we've had less casualties then our enemies. There cannot be an answer to this question, only opinions.

Answer 7

war will be with us always we can not change that as long as countries have in place power hungry wackos who want more than they have and more power and money we are at a loss to stop it so it is a part of the world that sucks i have even witnessed two anti war protest groups fighting because the were not placed close enough to the front of the line actual fighting in downtown Philly no answer

Answer 8

The Cold War.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Well, with the Battle of the Bulge taking over, they may soon be too large to fit into those army uniforms. Bush might be upping the number of soldiers in Iraq by 30,000. They'll have to put in a McDonald's and Taco Bell. Soldiers can munch on filet-o-fish, Big Macs, beef burritos, nachos and lousy orange koolaid the colour of urine.