1: A war that the US government has declared to be a war. Which has not happened since ww2. Officially the US has not even been in a war since ww2.
2: A war against an enemy “near parity”, the thing the US government keeps putting enormous money into getting ready to fight. Which also hasn’t happened since ww2.
3: A military conflict against a functioning state using conventional military means. Which makes Iraq the last “real war” and before that it was… the Yugoslav wars, kinda?
I think they mean a large scale military conflict with an outcome that can be spun in such a way that the American people can feel good about it. A serious propaganda victory. I think the first gulf war was the last one of those they had
We can use three definitions of “real war” here.
1: A war that the US government has declared to be a war. Which has not happened since ww2. Officially the US has not even been in a war since ww2.
2: A war against an enemy “near parity”, the thing the US government keeps putting enormous money into getting ready to fight. Which also hasn’t happened since ww2.
3: A military conflict against a functioning state using conventional military means. Which makes Iraq the last “real war” and before that it was… the Yugoslav wars, kinda?
I think they mean a large scale military conflict with an outcome that can be spun in such a way that the American people can feel good about it. A serious propaganda victory. I think the first gulf war was the last one of those they had