President Donald Trump discusses current military operations with Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command Commander, and Gen. Raymond A. "Tony" Thomas, U.S. Special Operations Command Commander at MacDill, AFB, FL, Feb. 6, 2017. (DoD photo by D. Myles Cullen/Released)
Christopher A. Preble. National Interest: Trump's Love of 'Winning' Could Lead America into a Costly War
A grim reality is sinking into the minds of the average American—“We don’t win anymore.”
This notion doesn’t sit well in a country that bested Nazi Germany and the Empire of the Rising Sun, put a man on the moon, outlasted the Soviet Union in the Cold War and drove Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in a matter of days. That country shouldn’t struggle so mightily to defeat insurgent groups whose most lethal weapon is explosives fashioned from common household items and discarded artillery shells or old landmines.
Our failure to win was a frequent refrain during Donald Trump’s successful campaign. And it resonated. His solution was elegantly simple to say, but devilishly difficult to implement: Fight harder, or stop fighting.
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WNU Editor: On military/defense/war operations and decisions .... President Trump has always deferred to what the military wanted. On expanding U.S. military operations in places like Afghanistan .... he has given the Pentagon a mandate on what is necessary to change the situation on the ground, and it is clear that they have not met his conditions. On launching a military attack against a sovereign country .... we saw that with Syria, but even here the White House made sure that the Syrians and Russians knew that the base was going to be bombed a few hours before it happened. On launching a hypothetical major war of choice against Iran or North Korea .... I do not see his need to do so because he "needs a win" .... I see the opposite .... he is very cautious and he is always pushing the diplomatic angle rather than the military one. So bottom line .... would President Trump start a war of choice against North Korea or Iran? My answer would be a no.
