Murphy's Law: America Unprepared for War
July 3, 2025: Despite an annual defense budget approaching a trillion dollars, the United States military is more frequently unable to meet all its worldwide commitments. The U.S. Navy was only partially successful suppressing the Houthi threat to shipping in the Red Sea. Subsequently B2 bombers carrying 15-ton bombs eliminated Iranian underground Iranian nuclear weapons facilities. The problem is that American forces are spread worldwide, stationed in over a hundred locations. This enables the U.S. military to quickly react to emergencies. Fighting a war is something U.S. forces are not prepared for. Since the 1990s the American military has concentrated on dealing with the growing Chinese naval threat in the Pacific. The United States has told its NATO allies in Europe that they are on their own.
The problem is that China is not the only threat. There are also potential problems with Russia, Iran, North Korea and Islamic terrorists in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Inside the United States internal threats can be and are handled by local police and state National Guard units. The National Guard is the largest component of the army reserve system. The Guard is essential for reinforcing army operations overseas that run into manpower problems. The last war that U.S. forces were involved with ended in 2021. That was after American forces had spent two decades seeking to pacify Afghanistan. In 2017 most American forces left Iraq, leaving behind a few thousand troops to help train the new Iraq army and continue dealing with the Islamic terrorists still present in the area.
The United States has allies in most of these areas. South Korea and Japan are taking over sole responsibility for dealing with North Korea. The Americans will return if needed. South Korea has turned into a military superpower and Japan has cast aside the military restrictions imposed after World War II. In the Middle East American forces are under attack by Iran. This came after U.S. bombers destroyed key Iranian nuclear weapons facilities. The Iranian threat is real but rapidly diminishing. Most Middle Eastern nations oppose Iran and support Americans and Israeli efforts to reduce Iranian military capabilities.
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