As any YouTube addict will know, World War II was won by brave and determined soldiers, good generals and competent armies using high tech devices like proximity fuses to shoot down airplanes and, the ultimate high tech device, that product of really abstruse minds, the atomic bomb.
During that war, the US produced 9,000 airplanes a month and Hitler said that was simply impossible.
It produced 150 aircraft carriers during that war, swamping the Japanese Navy, which, by the end of the war had only 5 functioning carriers.
Despite the Japanese ethos of war, despite the willingness of soldiers and kamikaze pilots to die rather than to surrender, the United States methodically turned warfare from a test of courage and physical endurance into a contest between the manufacturing capacities of nations.
During this current war with Iran, American airplanes and Israeli Iron Dome missiles have been shooting down Iranian missiles and drones and we have been told the Iranians have shot their wad and that rocket launchings are down 90% as they have run out of missiles. So, America, we are told, has again simply overwhelmed its enemy with industrial and technological power.
But, the truth is, we are likely seeing a classic example of David slaying Goliath using a weapon which may look unimposing (a slingshot) but which can be used at a distance, with some stealth and which is superior to a sword which looks fearsome but is simply not as effective for the type of conflict a warrior of small stature can use in asymmetric battle.
A recent analysis of a simple "kill mission" involving an RAF high tech stealth fighter plane accompanied by two other war planes, shooting down an Iranian missile is both illuminating and sobering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVyAiZnvQhE&t=210s
The airplane was successful in destroying the drone, but the cost of the missiles, the cost of keeping the airplanes in the air was in the millions, all to destroy a $50,000 missile.
And Iran is nowhere even close to having exhausted its supply of drones and missiles. In fact, the United States and Israel have had to import Ukrainian soldiers knowledgeable in drone warfare to help them. After abandoning the Ukrainians in their fight against Russia, the US is now begging them for help, something which the Ukrainian drone warrior interviewed on the PBS Newshour had a hard time not crowing about--he managed to suppress a smirk and said only that he was glad he could help the US in our hour of need.
It turns out the cost of keeping a high tech warplane in the air has been costed out per minute of flight and that is a major Achilles heel in the United States' war planning. Sure, we can hunt down a ten cent missile with a thousand dollar missile, but who wins that war?
The spectacle of Mr. Hegseth crowing about how we are reigning down death, destruction and mayhem on the Iranians and pounding his tattooed chest about how badly we are skunking our opponents reminds Mad Dog of watching his son step off a wrestling mat, having just pinned his opponent, who looked so overwhelmingly muscled and intimidating at the start of the match.
"Oh, how I love to destroy those jacked up [muscular] guys. They come stomping out looking all fearsome, but they have to be helped back to their chairs looking like little boys crying for their mothers."
Why that memory surfaces now, watching Mr. Trump's chest thumping boys do their frat boy taunting is something to ponder.
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