Reply #2: This is very true

[tocqueville]

and there are other examples like Somalia.

The other side of the story is the myth of the US invincibility (mostly due to the victory in WWII and the overwhelming fire power of the US military)

But if you look at a the US "victories" after WWII, they are very few if any.

Besides pure losses like Vietnam, Beirut, Somalia and to a certain extent Korea, there were only victories against countries unable to really defend themselves (Panama, Grenada) or that didn't want to like Iraq.

Bosnia, Kosovo are other examples where the air war was "successfull" - in Kosovo, it destroyed the Serbian infrastructure, but left the Serbian army practically intact -
while the fight and the occupation on the ground was done by others (British, French).

Still there is a lot of boosting "WE liberated etc..."

I think some countries or groups have seen though this, and when they are willing to sacrifice their lives, it puts the US rapidly in big trouble.

I think the major flaw is in the old cliche : it's not enough to have a big tool, it depends how you use it.