by Gary Betts

Created on: July 27, 2007   Last Updated: July 18, 2011

In the last 50 years, the United States has made a practice of cutting-and-running when the fighting gets too tough. And, I fear, the war in Iraq will be no different.

Just look at the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1961 by U.S. backed and financed Cuban exiles. It failed because the U.S. cut-and-ran. They did not follow through on promised full-air support. Plus U.S. Marines off shore were not ordered into Cuba as expected. Americans thought that Cubans would be grateful to be liberated. (Sound familiar?).

Then the United States carried cutting-and-running to to a new level in the Vietnam War (1965-1975). After 57,000 U.S. troops were killed, the U.S. simply pulled out.

In 1983, during the Lebanese Civil War, 241 U.S. troops were killed in a barracks bombing by Hezbollah fighters who were trained by the Iranians. (Sound familiar?). The U.S. fled four months later with no response to the bombing.

And, of course, everyone will remember Somalia in 1992-1994. The U.S. was part of an international force sent in to secure relief efforts for the Somalis. Eighteen U.S. troops were killed during fighting in Mogadishu in 1993. Back home, American networks displayed a video of a dead U.S. Ranger being dragged naked through the streets of the city behind a jeep. The United States pulled out. This incident made the American people sick and the military wary of future conflicts.

Prior to 1957, however, the United States was a proud and courageous nation. A look at 1907 to 1957 will only confirm that Americans back then were brave and competent fighters with a skilled and fearless leadership. Once in a war, they refused to leave until they had won.

World War I (1914-1918) was won with the loss of 126,000 U.S. troops.

World War II (1939-1945) was won with the staggering loss of about 400,000 U.S. troops. In the battle for Iwo Jima in the Pacific, 2500 Marines were killed in one day.

The Korean War (1950-1953) was fought to a stalemate with the loss of 54,000 U.S. troops. American troops are still there.

In 1907 to 1957, the United States lost about 580,000 troops. But not once did America cut-and-run. In 1957 to 2007, the U.S. lost only about 61,000 troops. The fact that this figure is comparatively low can be attributed to the fact that the U.S. has cut-and-run four times. The Iraq War will make that five times.

What has happened to the United States in the second half of the 20th century? The U.S. military led by its civilian masters has forgotten how to plan for a war, how to run

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