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gpm

> The US military executed nearly flawlessly

Did they? They

- Started the war off by (to all appearances accidentally) bombing a girls elementary school

- Had an aircraft carrier spontaneously catch fire via laundry - forcing it to go for repairs mid war

- Lost a bunch of very expensive aircraft, and some (though not very many per airframe) soldiers with them

- Proved that the F-35s stealth capabilities aren't quite what they were hyped up to be by having one hit by a guided missile

And on the strategic objectives front (where, to be fair, they were given impossible tasks)

- Killed the person they were hoping to install as the new head of state

- Didn't manage to destroy Iran's missile launch capability

- Didn't manage to secure the straight of hormuz

- Didn't manage to defend their own bases against missile attacks, instead fleeing to hotels

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Also..

* USA (or Israel really) started this war on their own terms at a time of their choosing. But they werent prepared at all.

* Incredibly valuable things like THAAD radars (like $1B per unit) were taken out by $1000 drones.. We've all seen the war in Ukraine, we all know Iran makes Shahed drones. US seemed to be completely unprepared for this.

* US was using $1M pac 3 patriot missiles to shoot down $1000 drones, utterly failing the shot exchange problem. Also US has run down its stockpiles of many missiles to 50% or less. It will take 3 or 4 years to return many items to acceptable levels, and wont be able sell any either, leaving customers seeking alternatives.

* Clear miscoordination and lack of clarity between US and allies. Like no-one really knew what was happening or why, leading to stuff like the ghost of Kuwait.

Classic trump regieme action. No-one competent in the room. Just impulsively doing random shit each day with no strategy or understanding.

> Classic trump regieme action. No-one competent in the room. Just impulsively doing random shit each day with no strategy or understanding.

It has echoes of LBJ and later Nixon trying to control a massive conflict from thousands of miles a way, based mostly on vibes.

Vibes? There's a fallacy named after McNamara trying to break it down to numerical metrics. Vibes probably would've served them better.

I think they had much more intelligence and competence back then, even if they were wrong. Now it's stupidity and incompetence on top of being wrong.

on that last one: don't americans talk a lot of shit about hamas using residential areas as cover? what, pray tell, is cohousing your military with civilian in hotels?

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