Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

All joking aside, surely we all know how Great Britain surrendered after the Germans bombed the hell out of London and the other big English cities during WWII right? Oh yeah, that didn’t happen. Or when North Viet Nam threw in the towel after the US pummeled Hanoi from the air for years. That didn’t happen either, did it. Fire bombing Tokyo and killing 100,000 people in one night made Japan give up? Nope. It took two Atomic bombs for that. Ukraine gave up when Russia started hitting civilian targets. Nah, they’re still fighting away. So what makes military genius Hegseth and Commander Bone Spurs so sure that bombing Iran will suddenly bring about a result that other similar efforts failed to achieve in both past and current conflicts? Strongly worded Truth Social posts? Gleeful videos celebrating death and destruction? None of this will do anything other than kill thousands of people, destroy infrastructure, sow hatred, unrest, and economic upheaval as well as destroy 80 years of productive alliances that have benefitted both Europe and the US. Did they sit around the situation room and decide that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part? Everything happens for a reason-even stupid things. Is it just as simple as a distraction from the troubles of the Epstein files, Netenyahu’s political peril, greed, stupidity, hubris? It certainly isn’t intelligent military strategy.

[LiberalArkie]

1. So very good. Thank you DPR

[raging moderate]

2. Except, actually, THE JAPANESE BOMBED PEARL HARBOR.

I just think historical accuracy is important.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

3. You've never seen the movie Animal House?

I guess the reference was lost on you.

[PeaceWave]

8. Forget it. He's rolling...

[Laxman]

5. One of the greatest...

Movie scenes of all times! Belushi should have gotten an Oscar just for this!

[CTyankee]

7. See, that's the joke and why the scene is so funny.

It helps to see the movie as you will get context!

[ananda]

4. This reminds me of the importance of geography in warfare.

England couldn't be occupied because of its location...
an island with high cliffs.

I think Iran has a similar advantage, and the people
in charge of Trump's "war" don't care because they
just want a war for their own various reasons which
are mostly about distraction, money, and power.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

6. Exactly!

Non-serious people with no sense of the world around us and an over inflated sense of self. Reminds me of the old “New Yorker’s view of the world poster.

[ananda]

11. I also found it interesting that the Nazis...

did manage to occupy the channel islands,
but could never get into England itself.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

12. They occupied Jersey

Now New Jersey, on the other hand, they probably would have gotten their asses kicked, along with having to endure an endless stream of sarcasm and insults.

[ananda]

13. And Guernsey.

I wonder if the cows resisted.

[jimmy the one]

9. One addition, the American Revolutionary War

George Washington only won 3 of the 12 battles he was involved with, and one was Yorktown with a lot of French help - Trenton Princeton and Yorktown.
And Princeton was as much an extension of surprising and defeating hessians at Trenton a week earlier Christmas 1776, as the Trenton battle had drawn the main British army away from the Princeton area towards Trenton.
He lost the nine others (there are some who claim differently but this is more accepted), although some were closely fought.
The ultimate reasons Washington won the war were not superiority in battle, but that he was defending a vast land, and only had to 'not lose' in order to win. Asymmetric warfare 1776 style.
Like a 'fleet in being' where a small navy has to be taken into consideration by a larger powerful fleet, Washington's continental army ar valley forge was a relatively small fleet in being, but a being nonetheless.
Iran does not have to win, only has not to lose, and 'stay afloat' inside Iran.

Ps: I miss Bluto. Aka John Belushi.
_________________________
>>>> not an ego, jimmy the one is a British naval term, like limey.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

10. And it dragged on for 7 years!

All the might and technological superiority of the British Empire couldn’t win the war. The British were also brutal to the citizenry. Not enough-they also suffered from hubris and a lack of perspective.