America at war

PERRYSCOPE
Perry Diaz

 “America at war” headlines a newspaper.  That’s an understatement; America has been at war since the “War that will end all wars” or World War I as we know it. Indeed, the world has been at war since then.  Yes, World War II followed and then the Cold War… followed by the Korean War… followed by the Vietnam War… ad infinitum.

In 1991, the Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed and America became the only superpower on the face of the Earth. Thus began Pax Americana.

But peace was shattered when Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. With America coming to the rescue, Saddam Hussein’s aggression was repelled. 

A decade later, terrorists attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001.  The U.S. went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Planet Earth has never been at peace again. 

Barack Obama won the U.S. presidency in 2009 with a vow to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He achieved ending the Iraq War on December 15, 2011.  In Afghanistan, American troops and NATO forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.  But the Arab Spring – a series of popular uprisings -- brought the U.S. back to war when she and her NATO allies conducted air strikes in Libya in support of the anti-Khadafy rebels.  Khadafy was killed but peace eluded Libya.

Drone wars

On September 11, 2012, Islamic militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.  Four Americans were killed including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.  The attack prompted Obama to order drone strikes against militants in Libya.     

The unprecedented use of unmanned drones has revolutionized the way wars are fought.  Today, military operations involve the use of air and naval forces with the use of missiles against enemy targets.  Many military experts, however, are of the opinion that air and naval warfare without “boots on the ground” is not enough to defeat the enemy.  With several “secret” bases in the Middle East, Africa, and the Indian Ocean region, the U.S. started bombing terrorists in five countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia using unmanned drones.    

On June 10, 2014, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadists – who have been fighting the Syrian government -- crossed the border into Iraq and captured the city of Mosul.  A few weeks later, Obama ordered air strikes against ISIS. 

On September 22, Obama, with congressional authorization, expanded the war into Syria by sending waves of fighter jets, B-1 bombers, cruise missiles, and drones to hit ISIS camps.  With new fronts in Iraq and Syria, the number of countries the U.S. is at war increased to seven.

US vs. Russia

But there is another country – Ukraine -- that the U.S. is at war, albeit a proxy war. Ukraine is fighting a de facto war against Russia who has sent troops and heavy armaments to the Donbas region in Ukraine to reinforce the pro-Russian separatists. But in reality the U.S. and her NATO allies are the ones who are at war with Russia. 

Ukraine is merely the battleground, which makes one wonder:  Would it escalate into a shooting war between Russia and the U.S.?  Not likely… for now.

The reason why the proxy war in Ukraine would not explode into a war between Russia and the U.S. is that Russia is not prepared to go to war against the U.S.  She knows that the U.S. has a “Prompt Global Strike” strategy that she couldn’t match.

A “Ground Report” article titled “Nuclear war between Russia and the US could have apocalyptic consequences,” said: “The Prompt Global Strike (PGS) concept was adopted in the USA in the beginning of the 2000s. Prompt Global Strike (PGS) is a United States military effort to develop a system that can deliver a precision conventional weapon strike anywhere in the world within one hour, in a similar manner to a nuclear ICBM.”

Unless Russia can knock the U.S. out in a first-strike attack, the U.S. could retaliate -- using her fleet of 14 nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) -- with a devastating second-strike counter-attack.  To neutralize the U.S.’s second-strike capability, Russia must destroy all of the U.S.’s SSBNs, which is virtually impossible to accomplish.  On the other hand, a U.S. first-strike attack against Russia would be of such magnitude that it would render Russia incapable of a second strike against the U.S.  

Nuclear backbone

The backbone of the U.S.’s nuclear capability is the SSBNs -- known as “boomers” -- that are silently prowling the high seas with their deadly Trident missiles.  They are called “boomers” because when a Trident is launched, it makes a booming sound. Each of the 14 boomers carries 12 ballistic missiles and each missile is equipped with 8-14 nuclear warheads.   That’s more than 2,300 nuclear warheads that can be simultaneously launched against Russia.  That accounts for about 50% of the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal.  The other 50% is land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) that could reach any target around the world… including China.

Although the U.S. considers China an “adversary,” the two countries are not yet at war.  However, tensions are running high between China and several of U.S.’s treaty allies in the Asia-Pacific region.  A report published in Want China Times said:“China has yet to build a three-pronged nuclear capability that could challenge the United States, consisting of strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The Second Artillery Corps is also unable to compete against the US in the number of nuclear warheads it has, the report said, adding that China would likely lose a full scale nuclear war in less than an hour.”

But while China is not militarily at par with the U.S. today, a report by Huffington Post said: “The good news is China does not want war now and in the foreseeable future, primarily because Beijing knows too well that the odds are not on its side. But if we look ahead 20 years from now, in 2034, the circumstances will have shifted significantly.”

While both Russia and China may be incapable of waging a nuclear war with the U.S. today, it could be a different scenario in 20 years; that is, if the U.S. couldn’t keep up with Russia and China’s upgrade of their military capabilities.  But from the array of futuristic warfare the U.S. is developing today, she would – for goodness’ sake -- still be ahead of Russia and China 20 years from now.   Pax Americana would still be going strong.

Meanwhile, America is at war in eight fronts! (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)