For the record
We are being chased out of these bases. Because we are unable to defend them in light of the new technologic revolution in warfare.
Cheap drones and ever more sophisticated and relatively cheap to build and our inability to have prepared for defensive munitions are revolutionizing warfare.
Iran, a 3rd rate military, defeated us because we did not learn the lessons of the Ukraine war. We have not had the vision or will to evolve our fighting forces.
That is a simple fact
Losing these bases impacts us operationally, strategically and profoundly in our foreign policy.
Operationally we no longer have bases to project power. the USS Lincoln fiasco is a perfect exemplar. Where previously it would pop into our Bahrainian base to refuel and replenish, now it has to remain on station with active operations. For it to spend a couple of weeks going back and forth to Diego Garcia would leave our naval assets in the Gulf region without CAP and susceptible to attack
That is a massive operational blow.
Amateurs study operations, experts study logistics
Iran is demonstrating an increased capability to expand its offensive power-Piggy was shocked when our base in Jordan was hit hard. There must be some scary intelligence for Piggy to pull out of the UK.
I am sure that there are many other bases throughout Europe but with Putin acting aggressively and with his ability for drone warfare makes our Europe bases vulnerable.
So all of these operational blows are impacting our strategy-not that we ever had one to be honest.
Think of strategy as the plan to meet your goals. Operations are the ways and means to fulfil the plan.
Since WW2 America has been able to project our military power where ever we choose, generally with impunity
Not that that project guarantees success, but it does permit us to dictate operations. Half of victory comes from having the initiative, which we have generally always had, because our military was everywhere supplemented by our navy
We are withdrawing from the ME; we have withdrawn from Iraq. We have lost our bases. We have limited naval capacity to meet the demands
that limits our strategic options. It limits the goals we are able to achieve.
Of course, Piggy has no strategic goals, cause he is a moron.
but, if generally speaking, the goal is to get Iran to surrender, well it ain't going to happen.
But he is certainly betting that we can inflict far more harm on them then they on us leading them to surrender
But, with the operational blows we have taken we have no realistic strategy to meet any realistic goal.
Are we going to run bombers from US bases all the way to Iran, bomb and return? How will we protect vulnerable infrastructure in gulf countries? How will we able to project and commit the level of force we had back in March, when we don't have bases in the region to work from? That means naval aircraft from carriers which has limited operational capacity-see the USS Lincoln
All of that doesn't even touch on the fact that Iran simply will not quit, under any circumstances.
We have made it clear that Piggy will accept nothing but something the Iranians will see as existential.
@#19 ... And I want to stress that fertilizer thing. ...
Yup.
While the news seems to be focused upon the barrels of oil leaving the Middle East (which, btw, using alternate and more expensive routes, now seems to be about the same as the pre-war volumes), there are other commodities that have suffered curtailed deliveries because of Pres Trump's unprovoked war of choice.