Quote: "you think one little war "
WWII was one little war? WWII is the culmination of later western history.
Sorry, Brits, but you did not have the industrial production necessary to face down Germany. Even before the US entry into WWII, the Lend-Lease Program propped up Britain and Russia.
WWII was won by the Russians, at Stalingrad and Kursk. American production propped up the Russians in their darkest hour, and also the war with Japan ensured the Russians would only fight a one-front war.
The American combat role served the purpose of making sure the Soviets were stopped before making into western Europe.
The most the Brits would have gotten from the Germans was a dishonorable peace, probably with provisions limiting their military. Then, the Brits still would have faced the ugly business of mopping up their war with the Japanese.
As for the one war the US lost . . . I will debate whether Vietnam was a strategic defeat. The reason for the intervention in Vietnam was Domino Theory, the notion that if one country fell, they'd fall one after another.
Now, Vietnam bought twenty years from the French defeat to the US withdrawl, during which time the countries on the other side of the Indochina domino, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore had a chance to stablize their governments and develop their economies.
None of those countries fell to communism. So, was Vietnam as much of a defeat as we think? After all, we achieved our geo-strategic goal: protecting more valued countries.
Couple Vietnam with other Cold War battlegrounds of the 70s and 80s, such as Afghanistan, Chile, Nicaragua, South-west Africa, and Ethiopia and it is clear the US was able to force the Soviet Union (and Cuba to a lesser extent, although Cuban troops showed very well in African battles) to overextend it resources while we committed very little.
The fact is, we won the Cold War, and the Cold War was our reason for fighting in Vietnam. Vietnam was far more of a defeat in internal US politics than it was in our foreign affairs.
The Brits in all our wars? Where were the Brits in our Latin American wars? Oh, yeah, the Monroe Doctrine.
But, it was kind of the Brits to take a disproportionate number of the casualties in the recent Iraqi Oil War.
Just an opinion? NO! It's an opinion backed with information.
It's this amazing trick where you develop an "argument", instead of just saying something and going "nuh-uh!" and "if you want to say that then say it".
Reducing all arguments to opinion is an old rhetorical defense. It's the old ostrich approach. "Well, that's your opinion . . ." C'mon!
We can't stop here! This is bat country!
