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Sen. Dave McCormick on Trump's war against Iran: "I was a soldier in the Gulf War and at the time, the Gulf War was viewed as the most successful modern military action in history. By any measure this has been even more effective."

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In the Gulf War we relied on an overwhelming coalition forces on the ground to push Iraq out of Kuwait, and with that clearly defined limited end state as the determining factor for success it was indeed one of the most successful military actions in history.

However, we later came to regret that we did not continue on and topple Hussein as we went through years of enforcing "safe zones" and a ultimately a second Iraq war. The second Iraq war was also an overwhelming success, if you only looked at the defeat of the Iraqi army as the end state.

We defeated the Iraqi military quickly and decisively. But our leaders, Bush, Cheney, Rumesfiled in particular, but also our senior military leaders, failed to plan for what to do next to ensure Iraq became a stable force in the region. This is what led to another decade plus of bloodshed.

The Iranian war is even worse. We have no defined end state; it keeps changing depending on Trump's mood. We bombed Iran with overwhelming force with uncertain strategic success due to lack of an end state. We had no appetite for using ground forces which is the only way to cement a victory.

FFS. They murdered girls at a school in Iran. They covered up our soldiers who were hurt at our bases. They lied about a missing pilot. They didn’t properly feed soldiers on our ships. They can’t treat soldiers experiencing mental fatigue so they charge them with crimes. Fuck off with your lies.

I guess the psychology makes sense somewhere but I just can’t stop being surprised that grown men that have achieved such financial success in life, such as my shallow senator Dave here, then choose to spend their glory years as shameless liars and sycophants. Just a waste.

Follow-up: "When you say "this", do you mean the unimaginable way in which Russia has managed to corrupt the US politics and business and we're watching the words of Krutchev in the '60s come to life and Americans are destroying the country from within?

🇨🇦🇺🇦🤔JFC Sen Dave McCormick, if you view Trump’s war in Iran as the most successful, I suggest you resign your pundit duties & listen to Americans as they pump $4/gallon gas into their cars & try to buy groceries on their budget.

Um...wow. West Point Dave calls the Iran whatchamacalit successful. Because he's reviewed the stated objectives and found them all to have been achieved? Like which one, for instance? Name 1. Regime change? Citizen-led revolt? No nukes? Strait of Hormuz open? Help me out here, Dave.

Kuwait was Buch I and Desert Shield. His idiot son gave us Desert Storm because Cheny and Rumsfeld were still whining about being “constrained” in Desert Shield.

It's interesting seeing so many Americans conflate the Gulf Wr with the Iraq War in this context. They're seen as pretty distinct wars here in Canada given that we only publicly participated in the Gulf War but then (12 years later) we refused to (publicly) participate in the Iraq War.

“By any measure…” Well ok, let’s try a few: How many dictators overthrown? 0 How many democracies emplaced? 0 How many people freed? 0 How much territory liberated? 0 How many open passages relinquished? 1 How many oil installations out of commission? 5 Are you keeping score Dave? What’s your count?

Assuming he means Desert Storm (there have been so many Gulf Wars that “Gulf War” needs clarification), he’s denigrating his own service. HW Bush drove Saddam out of Kuwait in a matter of days and then left (sort of). Objective complete. To the extent any clear/realistic objective has been stated

For this illegal shitshow war, none have been met in 6 months. Regime change? Not really. Just a new man leading the same regime. Nukes never? A bullshit objective - impossible timeframe to measure success ie, “never”. Strait? Open before, now closed. Iran has proof of concept.

These Trump hordes all make the same mistake. They believe the violence is the point. On a cold, hard, cash calculation, Trump has already lost. Because he has spent more on the military than he would have spent by keeping the Obama deal going.

I was never in the military but are any VETS buying this BULLSHIT I feel sure the sailors on the Lincoln are not wait i thought mission accomplished why are we still there is what I want to know

To be fair, the Gulf War was executed by a UN-backed coalition of over 40 nations, it lasted <7 months, including <100hours of sustained ground combat and it successfully liberated Kuwait. The problem was the U.S. making up a bullshit excuse to re-invade Iraq and start a second war 12 years later.

We had no legitimate reason to be in the MidEast at all. It was oil and Israel dominance. Republicons tried under Nixon to get Saddam to agree to letting that Persian Gulf pipeline through, in which Saddam laughed and threw Don Rumsfeld out of Iraq. The blame of Saddam doing ...1

9-11, was Bush's excuse for Rumsfeld get back of that humiliation Rumsfeld suffered. Saddam assassination. But, glad you reminded. So much for Kuwait being liberated. I think Trump undid that now... ... 2

"We had no legitimate reason to be in the MidEast at all." I mean, Kuwait was invaded and most of the planet, including the UN and basically EVERY country in the Middle East called on the rest of the world to do something about it and then the UN put together a 42-nation coalition to do it, so...

'by any measure' is meaningless & pandering. What are the measurements in answer to the objectives (all the changing objectives)

Tactically, both were successes. They blew up the stuff they intended to blow up. Yay us. But unlike the (first) gulf war, the strategic outcome has left the US, the region and the whole planet dramatically worse off than before we started.

This isn't a defence of McCormick's idiocy above but the "Mission Accomplished" banner incident happened in 2003, in the early months of the Iraq war, whereas the Gulf War (that McCormick served in and is talking about in the clip) ended in 1991.

From my perspective in Canada it's interesting to see how many people in the replies and quotes are confusing/conflating the Gulf War (1990-1991) with the Iraq War (2003-2011). They're seen as pretty distinct wars here in Canada (mainly because we didn't (publicly) join the US for the second one).

I swear they’re all smoking fucking crack. What else can make them say such asinine things and think that people are going to believe it when we saw everything with our own fucking eyes.