In this second part of my interrogation of military service as labor exploitation wherein states feed their citizens into the machine of the wealth, power, and privilege of hegemonic elites, their lives the raw materiel of systems of oppression which benefit masters and not slaves as internal and external class war, I look to America’s ongoing wars of imperial conquest and dominion to chart the shape of our degeneration from the dream of a free society of equals which was possibly never anything but an illusion.

Our nation is fighting several wars at this moment, including what is officially classified as Operation Southern Spear or enforcement of a new Monroe Doctrine  in Latin America and the Caribbean including the coup in Venezuela, the blockade of Cuba, the Occupation of Haiti, the installation of proxy tyrants Milei in Argentia and formerly Bolsonaro in Brazil, and our secret war in Mexico to destabilize its socialist government on behalf of drug cartels.

A second constellation of interdependent conflicts involves the Iran War, Yemen War and the Red Sea Campaign, Lebanon War, and Israeli Conquest of Palestine, all four theatres of the Conquest to found a Greater Israeli.

Third we have the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, in which our Trump Regime has acted as a co-conspirator by destabilizing European democracies in favor of  fascism to remove them from the board of play, soften Europe for Russian invasion, and to isolate Ukraine; we have also sabotaged NATO for the same reasons. I refer to the Russian attempts to re-found her empire as World War Three, whose fronts include America as a captured state through Putin’s star agent Trump as well as Libya and vast regions of Africa, and formerly Belarus, Kazakhstan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Syria which we liberated.

Somalia, and general global wars including the Drone Wars, War versus ISIS, and the War on Terror.

The struggle between Russia and Turkey for control of the Middle East and the Mediterranean has in recent years metastasized into a war between Israel and the Arab-American Alliance to found a Greater Israel through conquest of her neighbors versus Russia’s key all Iran and her Axis of Resistance which includes Lebanon, Iraq, and much of Yemen, Yemen being also a civil war of independence versus the American Dominion and her allies and also about solidarity with the people of Palestine against the genocide our taxes pay for. As always, the Holy Land is a Rashomon Gate of causes, motives, loyalties, and histories.

 This does not tally conflicts which are primarily beyond American interests, like the civil war in Myanmar, as here I am interested in the death and horrors our government has made us all complicit in. America is a culture of death, but we hold no patent on the social use of force.

If one counts proxy tyrannies of the Trump regime, malign American global and historical influence becomes vast indeed.

In any conflict one may easily identify the side of justice, because America is nearly always on the other side.

When we begin to question why that is, we awaken to politics as the action of our values and to compassion as our duty of care for others and solidarity of action as guarantors of each other’s humanity.

Let us refuse to serve the power of those who would enslave us as their enforcers and overseers, for when states send slave armies to conquer free peoples, how if they unite to liberate each other instead of subjugating each other?

The way of the tyrant leads to mutual dehumanization of oppressors and their victims, of soldiers and police and the slaves they brutalize to keep at their work. The other path leads to a free society of equals and a society not of subjects but of citizens.

Among the many reasons for the processes of collapse and fragmentation of global democracy and a world order founded on the idea of human rights born in the Enlightenment and the renouncement of rule by priests and kings which the Trump regime and the Republican Party has attempted to return us to, and for the degeneration of humankind, is that our society and the institutions of state are built on premises of unequal power and of the use of force.

For this there is a simple fix and prescription, though making it real and true will be neither swift nor easy; abolish the social use of force, and most especially armies and police.

And if we cannot? Then as Nietzsche warned the Abyss looks back at us, and though it may begin with trivial acts of the enforcement of virtue, the Abyss always grows and becomes chasms of darkness without end.

As I wrote in my post of July 12 2026, Anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre; Of Sarajevo I shall speak here not of the monstrous acts of those who would be conquerors, nor of the courageous resistance of their intended victims who held true to their faith and to each other in the face of death and torture, nor even of the valor and compassion of the volunteers of the International Brigade who placed themselves between hammer and anvil, but of a small horror which has come to symbolize for me the unimaginable horrors of war; the Jar of Eyes.

On the desk of a commander of death squads sat a jar full of eyes, and beside it an ice cream scoop which he would toy with, stroking its stainless smoothness with an absentminded and sensual languor while interrogating prisoners.

This he did in imitation of the Roman Emperor Basil the Second the Bulgar Slayer, who after the battle of Kleidion in 1014 Christianized Bulgaria by blinding the army he had defeated, and leaving one man in one hundred with a single eye to guide the others home and terrify the nation into submission. 

How do I know this, and what were we to each other, this monster and I? Herein I recall and speak as a witness of history a Defining Moment in which we played a game of chess with the life of a prisoner of his as the prize.

Having materialized at his gate and asking to see the commander, itself unusual and a curious thing to a man with his fearsome reputation, I came bearing the gift of a recording of an opera I knew he loved and could not attend due to his duties and price on his head as a war criminal, Leoš Janáček’s House of the Dead set in a Serbian prison and based on the Dostoevsky novel, with the promise of more music in trade for a prisoner he held and did not know the value of. He agreed to the bargain, but with one condition; we would play three games of chess after dinner in the following days, and I must win or force a draw once.

We had three meetings over three days of an hour or so each, over dinner and chess, during which we conversed of the historical civilization he was fighting to defend, a fight which had made him a monster; music, philosophy, art, literature. Once a prisoner was brought in, seated and held fast by guards like a third companion at dinner whom he tortured while we sipped tea, careful that during this test my hand never trembled nor eyes looked away, and spoke of the scene between Christ and the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. I think he was lonely.

Within the jar the eyes would float randomly, hypnotic, reflective, capturing ones will to resist with a Medusa-like gaze of objectification and dehumanization appropriated from their tormentors, a talisman of transference of power. A jar of silent screams, erased lives, and the lost witness of history; how can we accuse our destroyers when we have no mouths?

Here among the dragons, where the rule of law cannot reach and our maps of meaning and value have given way to tantalizing empty spaces which beckon with the siren call of the Forbidden, where the only currency is fear and the only relationships those of power and dominion, we challenge and define by their absence and contrary the limits of what is human.

For we are all trapped in the Jar of Eyes, and if we are to reawaken and assume our true forms we must find a means of escape.

How many wars are ongoing now?

I note that Operation Southern Spear, Trump’s war to seize control of the Caribbean and South American nations including Cuba and Venezuela, is counted in neither of the two primary sources which I quote below, so I have appended a link to the Wikipedia article.

Here follows Conflict Zone’s answer to the question.

“The 4 Critical Wars in 2026

These four meet every test of full-scale war — organized armed forces, sustained high-intensity combat, and mass civilian displacement:

Russia–Ukraine War (Eastern Europe) — the largest interstate war in Europe since 1945.

Gaza–Israel Conflict (Middle East) — sustained military operations with severe humanitarian impact.

Sudan Civil War (Northeast Africa) — army versus the RSF, driving one of the world’s largest displacement crises.

Myanmar Civil War (Southeast Asia) — the military junta against resistance forces and ethnic armed organizations.

Major Armed Conflicts by Region (High Severity)

Beyond the four critical wars, 25 high-severity conflicts are active in 2026. By region:

Africa

Sahel Crisis — jihadist insurgency across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger

Nigeria — Boko Haram / ISWAP

Somalia — Al-Shabaab

DR Congo — Eastern conflict

Sudan–South Sudan border war

Central African Republic

Uganda — ADF insurgency

Middle East

Lebanon–Israel border escalation

Iran–Israel shadow war

Yemen War

Turkey–Kurdish PKK conflict

Asia-Pacific

Kashmir border conflict

Bangladesh–Myanmar border crisis

Manipur ethnic conflict (India)

Xinjiang Uyghur conflict

West Papua independence movement

Papua New Guinea tribal violence

Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border

Americas

Haiti gang war

Mexico — drug cartel wars

Colombia — ELN conflict

Venezuela–Colombia border

Brazil — gang violence (Rio / São Paulo)

Europe & Eurasia

Russian Invasion of Ukraine and NATO proxy tensions

Another 36 medium- and low-severity conflicts — frozen border disputes, simmering insurgencies, and maritime standoffs — round out the full list of active conflicts.”

What major wars of imperial conquest and dominion is America fighting now?

Here follows the story of the major ongoing conflicts America is now fighting, as told on the War Costs website;

“The Forever Wars

America’s 21st Century Military Operations

Since 1995, the United States has launched 16 military operations across 37 countries. 7 are still ongoing. 13 were never authorized by Congress. Each one was supposed to be the last.

$5T Total Cost Since 1995

720,895 Total Deaths

7 Ongoing Operations

37 Nations Involved”

“Iran War (2026)

2026–2026(255 days)

🌍 Middle East ·Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Cyprus, Azerbaijan

👥 50,000 troops deployed

📅 255 days of conflict

On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel launched “Operation Epic Fury” — massive joint strikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities and decapitate its leadership. Supreme Leader Khamenei killed Day 1. A 14-point MOU was signed June 19 — collapsed early July. By Day 255 (Nov 9): $8B Hormuz deal on Trump’s desk — Iran signed off, cabinet opposes. Democrats won Congress in Nov 3 midterms; Vance blamed Iran war. Task Force Iron Gate extends blockade to land borders. Oil crashed to $94/bbl. 23 US KIA, 865+ wounded. ~9,500+ total killed. $47B+ direct military, $150B+ total cost. 255 days, no congressional authorization.

“The Full Story How this conflict unfolded

The Iran strikes of 2026 represent the most dangerous escalation of American military power since the 2003 Iraq invasion – and they share the same DNA: no congressional authorization, manufactured intelligence justifications, escalating mission creep, and the unmistakable influence of a foreign policy establishment that has sought confrontation with Iran for decades. What began as targeted strikes against nuclear facilities has already expanded into a multi-front regional war with no clear objectives, exit strategy, or democratic oversight.

The path to war was deliberately constructed through manufactured crises and escalating provocations. Following massive protests in Iran during January 2026, where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed thousands of demonstrators in over 100 cities, President Trump declared that the Iranian regime had “forfeited its right to exist.” On January 28, he announced a “massive armada heading to Iran” while stating that “all options are on the table.” By February 13, he was openly advocating regime change, declaring it would be “the best thing that could happen to the Iranian people.”

The immediate pretext came from Operation Midnight Hammer in late 2025 – a 37-hour campaign of strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities that cost $2.25 billion and temporarily degraded Iran’s enrichment capabilities. When Iran resumed nuclear activities at an accelerated pace and withdrew completely from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in January 2026, the Trump administration claimed an imminent threat that required immediate military action. Intelligence assessments suggesting Iran was months away from weapons capability were leaked to friendly media, creating the drumbeat for war.

On February 28, 2026, Operation Epic Fury began with coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iranian targets across the country. The scale was unprecedented – the largest American military deployment in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion, involving 40,000 troops, multiple carrier strike groups, B-2 stealth bombers flying 30-hour missions from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, and comprehensive strikes on Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, Kermanshah, and Tabriz in broad daylight. The opening salvo targeted over 2,500 Iranian military and government facilities simultaneously.

The first day’s casualties were staggering. Within hours of the initial strikes, Iranian state media reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in an attack on his compound in Tehran. The targeting of Iran’s supreme religious and political leader represented a deliberate escalation beyond military objectives to regime decapitation – a strategy that violated international law and guaranteed massive retaliation. Iranian officials put the day’s death toll at over 400, including at least 108 schoolgirls killed when a precision strike hit the Minab Girls’ School in Hormozgan Province.

The Pentagon immediately disputed the casualty figures and claimed the school had been used as a military command center by the IRGC. No evidence was provided, and independent verification was impossible due to the ongoing conflict. The strike, caught on security cameras and broadcast worldwide, showed a classroom full of teenage girls moments before the explosion – images that galvanized Iranian resistance and horrified international observers. Iranian officials later revised the school death toll to 168, making it the deadliest single attack on children in the conflict’s first week.

Iran’s response was swift and multi-dimensional. Within hours of the first U.S. strikes, Iranian forces closed the Strait of Hormuz using mines, fast attack boats, and anti-ship missiles, cutting off approximately 21 million barrels per day of oil shipments – roughly 20% of global supply. Oil prices spiked from $75 to over $130 per barrel within 48 hours, triggering fears of global economic recession. Iran simultaneously launched its largest ballistic missile barrage in history, firing over 500 missiles at U.S. bases and allied facilities across seven countries: Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Cyprus.

The missile attacks achieved devastating psychological impact despite limited physical damage. The Fairmont Hotel in Dubai – a symbol of Gulf prosperity – was hit by Iranian drones, killing 12 civilians and sending shockwaves through the region’s financial centers. Kuwait’s Arifjan base, housing thousands of American troops, was struck by multiple ballistic missiles, killing 3 U.S. service members and wounding 8 others. Saudi Arabia’s crucial Ras Tanura oil refinery was damaged by drone swarms, forcing QatarEnergy to halt liquefied natural gas exports and pushing energy prices even higher.

The conflict’s scope expanded rapidly as Iranian proxy forces across the Middle East activated simultaneously. Hezbollah launched rocket barrages from southern Lebanon, forcing Israel to respond with airstrikes that killed 52 Lebanese civilians and displaced over 30,000 people. Iraqi Shia militias attacked the Green Zone in Baghdad while Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen targeted shipping in the Red Sea. The Islamic Resistance in Syria struck U.S. positions near Damascus. What had been sold as a limited operation against Iranian nuclear facilities had become a regional war involving a dozen countries.

Americans began dying in numbers that exceeded administration predictions. By March 2, confirmed U.S. casualties reached 6 killed and 18 wounded, with more missing in action. Tragically, three American F-15E Strike Eagles were shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in a friendly fire incident that highlighted the confusion and chaos of multi-national operations under combat stress. The pilots’ deaths underscored how quickly limited strikes could escalate into the kind of prolonged conflict the Trump administration had promised to avoid.

Intelligence failures compounded military setbacks. Reports emerged that Russia was providing Iran with real-time intelligence on U.S. military positions, potentially explaining the accuracy of Iranian counter-strikes. The alleged intelligence sharing – if confirmed – would represent a dramatic escalation in Russian-American tensions and suggest that the Iran conflict was becoming a proxy war between nuclear superpowers. Chinese diplomatic support for Iran and threats to increase military cooperation added another great power dimension to what had begun as a regional confrontation.

The humanitarian catastrophe intensified daily. Iranian Red Crescent reports put civilian casualties at over 1,332 by March 6, including hundreds of women and children. The Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw documented systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure in Kurdish areas of Iran, reporting 1,500+ total casualties including 200 civilians. International humanitarian organizations were denied access to conflict zones, making independent verification impossible and raising concerns about war crimes.

Domestic American opposition emerged immediately but proved politically impotent. Congressional Democrats and some Republicans demanded emergency sessions to authorize or terminate the strikes, but Senate Republicans blocked a War Powers Resolution by a vote of 53-47. Speaker Mike Johnson refused to schedule a House vote, claiming that criticism of the strikes during combat operations would “embolden America’s enemies.” The Constitution’s requirement that Congress declare war was again treated as an inconvenient anachronism rather than fundamental law.

President Trump’s public statements revealed the operation’s incoherent objectives. On March 1, he promised the campaign would be completed in “four weeks or less” while simultaneously demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender” – terms that virtually guaranteed prolonged conflict. When Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian responded that “we will resist as long as it takes,” it became clear that neither side had developed exit strategies or negotiation frameworks that could end the fighting.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s admission on March 2 that the U.S. had attacked “pre-emptively” contradicted earlier claims that the strikes were defensive responses to imminent threats. This acknowledgment of preventive war – attacking Iran for what it might do rather than what it had done – violated international law and established dangerous precedents for other powers. The legal justification shifted repeatedly as events unfolded, suggesting the administration was improvising rather than executing a coherent strategy.

The economic consequences rippled globally as financial markets absorbed the reality of prolonged conflict in the world’s most critical energy region. Beyond oil price spikes, shipping companies suspended routes through the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, disrupting global supply chains already stressed by post-pandemic recovery. Insurance rates for Middle Eastern operations skyrocketed, while defense contractors’ stock prices surged on expectations of massive new orders.

By March 6 – day seven of Operation Epic Fury – the war showed no signs of de-escalation. U.S. and Israeli B-2 bomber strikes targeted buried Iranian missile launchers while Iranian naval forces fired anti-ship missiles at Coalition vessels in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military claimed to have sunk over 30 Iranian warships and coastal defense systems, effectively destroying Iran’s conventional naval capacity. But Iran’s asymmetric capabilities – fast attack boats, submarines, and shore-based missiles – continued threatening regional shipping and military forces.

The most ominous development was Iran’s delayed response to Khamenei’s death. Rather than immediately naming a successor, the Assembly of Experts convened in emergency session while competing factions within the regime struggled for power. This succession crisis introduced massive uncertainty into an already chaotic situation – a leaderless Iran might be more dangerous than one under unified command, as competing factions could escalate to demonstrate their revolutionary credentials.

The Iran strikes of 2026 had already achieved the opposite of their stated objectives. Instead of deterring Iranian aggression, they had triggered the largest Iranian military response in the Islamic Republic’s history. Instead of degrading Iran’s capabilities, they had prompted maximum mobilization of Iranian resources and allied support. Instead of isolating Iran regionally, they had activated a network of proxy forces across the Middle East while potentially drawing Russia and China into closer cooperation with Tehran.

Most fundamentally, the strikes had demonstrated once again that American military power – however overwhelming – cannot achieve political objectives through force alone. The death of Khamenei, the destruction of Iranian military assets, and the imposition of enormous economic costs had not broken Iranian resistance or compelled surrender. Instead, they had created the conditions for prolonged regional warfare with unpredictable consequences for global stability, American credibility, and the constitutional balance between executive and legislative power.

As the conflict entered its second week, the pattern established in Iraq and Afghanistan was already visible: initial military success followed by strategic confusion, mission creep, civilian casualties, domestic opposition, international isolation, and the gradual realization that military force alone cannot solve complex political problems.

The second week brought dramatic escalation in both scope and cost. On March 7 – Day 8 – the combined force expanded strikes to Iranian oil production for the first time, with IDF jets hitting the Tondgouyan Oil Refinery (one of Iran’s largest) and the Shahran Oil Refinery in Tehran, along with two oil storage facilities. Satellite imagery confirmed the destruction of structures at the Khojir Military Complex. The mission had crept from nuclear facilities to military infrastructure to oil production – the classic pattern of expanding war aims that characterized every failed American intervention.

Day 9 saw the destruction of the Shahed Aviation Industries Production Facility in Isfahan – Iran’s primary manufacturer of the Shahed-136, Shahed-129, and Shahed-171 drones that had been supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine. Oil prices surged past $100 per barrel for the first time since 2022, a milestone that sent shockwaves through global markets already reeling from the Hormuz disruption.

The war’s regional consequences intensified on Day 10 when an Iranian missile set a Bahrain oil refinery ablaze, forcing Bahrain to declare force majeure on oil shipments. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf claimed that strikes had degraded US air defenses – a claim that, whether accurate or propaganda, signaled Iran’s determination to frame the conflict as one it was winning.

Day 11 brought the most ominous development yet: CENTCOM announced it had destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz, confirming that Iran had begun laying naval mines in the world’s most critical oil chokepoint. Fewer than 10 mines had been deployed so far, but Iran possessed an inventory of 5,000+ naval mines – enough to close the strait for months. CNN reported that approximately 15 million barrels per day of crude oil plus 4.5 million barrels per day of refined fuels were stranded in the Persian Gulf. The UAE had intercepted 241 of 262 incoming ballistic missiles – a 92% rate that sounds impressive until you consider that the 21 that got through caused billions in damage. Paradoxically, Iran was still exporting 2.1 million barrels per day through the Strait, actually slightly more than pre-war levels.

On Day 12 – March 11 – the Pentagon delivered a bombshell to Congress: the first six days of Operation Epic Fury had cost $11.3 billion. That figure – nearly $1.9 billion per day, $21,800 per second – dwarfed initial estimates and put the war on pace to cost $24.5 billion or more by the end of the second week. The same day, Israeli jets struck Basij and internal security sites in Tehran’s Districts 1, 14, 15, and 16 – residential neighborhoods where the strikes killed at least 10 security personnel and an unknown number of civilians. The IAF also struck an IRGC intelligence building in northwest Iran and security sites in Marivan City, Kurdistan Province, including a border guard headquarters and three observation posts. The war had expanded from military targets to internal security forces – the clearest signal yet that the objective was regime change, not nuclear nonproliferation.

Iranian retaliation continued to reach across the Gulf: two drones struck near Dubai International Airport, injuring four people, while another drone hit gasoline storage at the Port of Salalah in Oman, starting fires at a facility in a neutral country. The UK Maritime Trade Operations reported 17 maritime incidents between February 28 and March 11 – 13 confirmed attacks and 4 suspicious approaches. A 29-year-old woman was killed when an Iranian projectile struck a residential building in Manama, Bahrain.

Day 13 – March 12 – brought the war’s first major non-combat loss: a KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq in what CENTCOM described as ‘friendly airspace,’ with rescue operations ongoing and two aircraft involved. Israel announced that top Iranian nuclear scientists had been killed – suggesting assassination operations running parallel to the bombing campaign. Oil tankers were hit in Iraq. And in the most significant diplomatic development since the war began, Tehran set three conditions for peace – the first concrete negotiating position either side had offered.

By Day 13, the war’s human toll had reached staggering proportions. Iran’s UN representative reported 1,348 killed and 17,000 injured, including 200 women and 168 children (the Minab school massacre). Fifty-five healthcare workers had been wounded and 11 killed. US casualties stood at 8 dead (7 killed in action plus 1 who died of a ‘health incident’ in Kuwait) and 18 wounded. Lebanon had suffered 687 killed including 98 children and 1,500 injured. Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, and the UAE had all suffered casualties. The Gulf states alone counted approximately 17 dead.

The Iran War of 2026 seemed destined to join the long list of American military interventions that achieved tactical victories while producing strategic defeats – but at a pace and cost that exceeded even the worst projections. At $11.3 billion for the first six days, the war was burning through money faster than any conflict in American history. The mission had crept from nuclear facilities to oil infrastructure to internal security forces to assassinations of scientists. The Strait of Hormuz was being mined. Oil was above $100. And still there was no congressional authorization, no exit strategy, and no answer to the question that should have been asked before the first bomb fell: how does this end?”

“Red Sea / Houthi Campaign

2023–Present (3 years)

🌍 Middle East ·Yemen

👥 12,000 troops deployed

📅 730 days of conflict

Operation Prosperity Guardian – US-led coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks after October 2023 Gaza war. The most intense naval combat the US Navy has faced since World War II. Over 200 Houthi attacks on commercial and military vessels. US/UK launched 931+ airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen starting January 2024. Multiple carrier strike groups deployed including USS Eisenhower and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower battle groups. $1 billion+ in munitions expended. Suez Canal traffic dropped 50%, insurance premiums tripled, and global economic disruption exceeded $100 billion. B-2 Spirit stealth bombers deployed against underground Houthi bunkers. Zero US combat deaths but multiple close calls including drone near-misses on destroyers. Cost at least $4.5 billion through 2025.

The Full Story

How this conflict unfolded

Beginning in late 2023, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched what would become the most significant challenge to freedom of navigation since World War II – and the most intense naval combat the United States Navy has faced in 80 years. Armed with Iranian-supplied anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and one-way attack drones, the Houthis turned the Red Sea into a war zone, ostensibly in solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Gaza war.

The opening salvo came on November 19, 2023, when Houthi forces seized the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-owned, Bahamas-flagged car carrier, by helicopter assault. The 25 crew members were taken hostage, and the ship was towed to Hodeidah port where it became a macabre tourist attraction – Houthi supporters posed for selfies on the captured vessel’s deck. The seizure sent shockwaves through the maritime industry.

What followed was an escalating campaign of maritime terror. Houthi forces launched over 200 attacks on commercial and military vessels transiting the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the narrow chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Approximately 12% of global trade passes through this corridor via the Suez Canal. Within weeks, the world’s largest shipping companies – Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM – suspended Red Sea transits entirely, rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. The detour added 10-14 days and $1 million or more in fuel costs to each voyage.

The economic devastation was staggering. Suez Canal traffic plummeted by 50%, costing Egypt billions in lost revenue. Maritime insurance premiums tripled for Red Sea transits. Global supply chains, still recovering from COVID-era disruptions, were thrown into chaos. The total economic disruption has been estimated at over $100 billion when accounting for increased shipping costs, delayed deliveries, insurance premiums, and cascading effects on global commodity prices.

On December 18, 2023, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational naval coalition to escort and protect commercial shipping. But the coalition was weaker than advertised – many partners contributed only staff officers, not warships. The heavy lifting fell almost entirely on the US Navy and, to a lesser extent, the Royal Navy.

The most dramatic moment came on January 10, 2024, when the Houthis launched their largest coordinated attack: 18 drones, 2 cruise missiles, and 1 anti-ship ballistic missile, all fired simultaneously. The USS Eisenhower carrier strike group and coalition destroyers intercepted every projectile in a engagement that defense officials called the most intense naval air defense action since World War II.

Two days later, on January 12, the US and UK launched Operation Poseidon Archer – direct strikes on Houthi targets inside Yemen. Over 60 targets across 16 locations were hit in the opening salvo, including radar sites, drone storage facilities, and missile launch positions. President Biden announced the strikes without seeking congressional authorization, citing Article II self-defense powers.

But the Houthis proved remarkably resilient. Despite 931+ coalition airstrikes over the following year, the attack tempo actually increased. The Houthis demonstrated the ability to rebuild launch sites and resume attacks within 24-48 hours of being struck. Their dispersed, mobile launch infrastructure proved nearly impossible to permanently eliminate.

The human cost came into sharp focus in early 2024. On February 18, a Houthi anti-ship missile struck the MV Rubymar, a UK-registered bulk carrier loaded with 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer. The crew abandoned ship, and the Rubymar sank on March 2 – the first commercial vessel lost to Houthi attacks – creating an environmental catastrophe in the Red Sea. On March 6, the True Confidence, a Barbados-flagged bulk carrier, was struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile, killing three crew members – the first fatalities of the shipping campaign.

Individual US warships became legends of the campaign. The USS Carney (DDG-64) became the most combat-active destroyer in modern Navy history, shooting down dozens of drones and missiles across multiple engagements. In one early engagement on October 19, 2023, the Carney intercepted cruise missiles and drones over several hours in the northern Red Sea. The USS Gravely (DDG-107) achieved the closest-range intercept in modern naval combat history when its Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) – a radar-guided 20mm Gatling gun – destroyed an incoming Houthi cruise missile at less than one mile from the ship. The crew had seconds to live.

The USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) conducted the longest combat deployment since Vietnam, spending over 9 months at sea. Its air wing flew hundreds of strike sorties against Houthi targets, expending munitions at rates not seen since the 1991 Gulf War. The strain on crews was immense – extended deployments with high-intensity combat operations and no port calls.

In October 2024, the US escalated dramatically by deploying B-2 Spirit stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to strike five hardened underground Houthi weapons storage facilities. The B-2 strikes – the first combat use of the stealth bomber since Libya in 2017 – targeted bunkers that conventional strikes couldn’t penetrate. The message was clear: the US was willing to deploy its most advanced strategic assets against a rebel group in Yemen.

The asymmetric economics of the campaign were devastating. The Houthis launched drones costing a few thousand dollars each; the US responded with SM-2 missiles costing $2.1 million and SM-6 missiles costing $4.3 million apiece. A single carrier strike group costs approximately $7 million per day to operate. Over the course of the campaign, the US expended more than $1 billion in munitions alone – not counting the billions in operational costs for ship deployments, aircraft sorties, intelligence operations, and logistics. The total bill exceeded $4.5 billion.

More dangerously, the campaign depleted SM-2 and SM-6 missile stocks faster than the US could produce them. These interceptors were designed and stockpiled for potential great-power conflicts with China or Russia – not for shooting down $2,000 drones over the Red Sea. Every missile fired at a Houthi drone was one fewer missile available for the defense of Taiwan or NATO allies.

Despite zero US combat deaths, there were multiple close calls that could have resulted in mass casualties. The Gravely intercept at under one mile, multiple instances of drones passing within hundreds of yards of warships, and the sheer volume of Houthi attacks created a statistical near-certainty of an eventual hit. Naval analysts noted that the campaign represented the first time since WWII that US Navy surface combatants faced sustained anti-ship missile threats.

The ceasefire reached in May 2025 was largely on Houthi terms. They retained their attack capability, their leadership was intact, and they had successfully demonstrated that a rebel group armed with cheap weapons could hold global trade hostage and force the world’s most powerful navy into a prolonged, expensive, and ultimately inconclusive defensive campaign. The Houthis declared victory – and it was hard to argue they were wrong.”

Lebanon: America’s Proxy Front (2023-Present)

2023–Present (3 years)

🌍 Middle East ·Lebanon, Israel

0

📅 1,095 days of conflict

US-funded Israeli military operations in Lebanon from October 2023 cross-border fighting through the 2024 invasion and into the 2026 resumption. Part of $21.7B+ in US military aid to Israel since October 7, 2023 (Brown University Costs of War). The World Bank’s 2025 RDNA report estimated $14 billion in damage to Lebanon – $6.8B physical destruction + $7.2B economic losses. Lebanon was already in economic collapse before the war began.

“The Full Story

How this conflict unfolded

The story of American entanglement in Lebanon stretches back decades before the current conflict – and every chapter has ended in blood, failure, or both. Understanding the 2023-present catastrophe requires understanding the history that produced it.

**1983: The Beirut Barracks Bombing**

America’s first modern trauma in Lebanon came on October 23, 1983, when a truck bomb destroyed the US Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport, killing 241 American servicemembers – 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and 3 soldiers. It was the deadliest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima. The Marines had been deployed as part of a multinational peacekeeping force during the Lebanese Civil War, a conflict fueled by sectarian divisions, Palestinian militant presence, and Syrian and Israeli interventions. The bombing, attributed to the nascent Hezbollah with Iranian backing, prompted President Reagan to withdraw US forces – a decision that Osama bin Laden would later cite as evidence that America could be driven from the Middle East through spectacular violence. The 241 families who lost loved ones received no justice; no one was ever held meaningfully accountable.

**Hezbollah: America’s Self-Created Nemesis**

Hezbollah – the “Party of God” – was born directly from Israel’s 1982 invasion and occupation of Lebanon, which the United States supported and armed. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard helped organize, train, and fund the Shia militia that would grow into the most powerful non-state military force in the world. For four decades, the US designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization while simultaneously pursuing policies that strengthened it: the 1982 invasion created it, the 2003 Iraq War empowered Iran (its patron), and the 2006 Lebanon War turned Nasrallah into a folk hero across the Arab world. Every American intervention in the region that strengthened Iran indirectly strengthened Hezbollah.

**2006: Israel’s $1.6 Billion Lesson**

The 2006 Lebanon War – 34 days of devastating Israeli bombardment following a Hezbollah cross-border raid – was a preview of everything that would follow. Israel dropped an estimated 7,000 bombs on Lebanon, destroying bridges, power plants, and entire neighborhoods of Beirut’s southern suburbs. Over 1,191 Lebanese were killed (the vast majority civilians), 4,409 injured, and 1 million displaced – one quarter of Lebanon’s population. The US provided Israel with precision-guided munitions during the conflict and blocked UN ceasefire resolutions for weeks, allowing the bombardment to continue. The war cost Israel approximately $1.6 billion in direct military expenditure, plus billions in economic disruption. But the strategic result was a Hezbollah victory: the militia survived, rebuilt, and emerged with vastly greater political legitimacy and public support. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the fighting, was supposed to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani River. It never happened. Hezbollah rearmed to an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles by 2023 – ten times its 2006 arsenal.

**2020: The Beirut Explosion and Lebanon’s Collapse**

On August 4, 2020, 2,750 tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded at the Port of Beirut, killing 218 people, injuring 7,000, leaving 300,000 homeless, and causing $15 billion in damage. The explosion – one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history – devastated half the capital and became a symbol of the corruption, negligence, and state failure that defined modern Lebanon. The ruling elite, including Hezbollah-allied politicians, blocked investigations into the blast. By 2023, Lebanon was already a failed state: the currency had lost 90% of its value, banks had frozen deposits (wiping out the middle class), GDP had contracted by 58% from 2019 levels, and basic services including electricity, water, and healthcare had collapsed. Into this catastrophe, war arrived.

**October 2023: The Solidarity Front Opens**

Hours after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah began launching rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israeli positions along the Blue Line border. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah called it a “solidarity front” with Gaza – a calibrated escalation designed to pin down Israeli forces without triggering a full-scale war. Through late 2023 and most of 2024, the border zone became a grinding battlefield: daily exchanges of fire displaced approximately 60,000 Israelis from northern communities and over 100,000 Lebanese from southern villages. The tit-for-tat escalated steadily – Israeli strikes gradually moved deeper into Lebanon while Hezbollah launched increasingly sophisticated drones and precision munitions.

**September 2024: The Pager Bombings and Nasrallah’s Assassination**

On September 17-18, 2024, Israel executed one of the most audacious and controversial intelligence operations in modern history: the simultaneous detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon. The devices – intercepted and rigged with PETN explosive during manufacturing – detonated in homes, shops, hospitals, and on streets. Forty-two people were killed and over 3,500 injured, many of them civilians who were merely standing near a Hezbollah member when the device exploded. Children were killed. Medical workers lost hands and eyes. The operation, while tactically brilliant, raised profound questions about the laws of war: is it legal to turn civilian communication devices into anti-personnel weapons that detonate indiscriminately in civilian spaces?

Nine days later, on September 27, 2024, Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah in a massive airstrike that dropped over 80 bunker-buster bombs on Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, leveling an entire city block and killing an unknown number of civilians alongside the Hezbollah leader. Nasrallah had led the organization for 32 years. His death decapitated Hezbollah’s leadership but also eliminated the one person who had maintained a calibrated restraint on the organization’s actions.

**October 2024: The Ground Invasion**

On October 1, 2024, Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon – the first ground invasion since 2006. What followed was devastating: white phosphorus deployed on residential areas, UNIFIL peacekeeping positions attacked (injuring UN peacekeepers from multiple nations), seven or more journalists killed covering the conflict, and entire villages in south Lebanon systematically destroyed. By the November 27, 2024 ceasefire, 1.2 million Lebanese had been displaced – in a country of 5.5 million that was already hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees, the most refugees per capita of any nation on Earth. The death toll reached 4,047 killed and 16,638 injured in Lebanon.

**American Funding: The $15 Billion+ Pipeline**

Every phase of this destruction was enabled by American money. The United States has provided Israel with $15 billion or more in military aid directly relevant to the Lebanon front since October 2023, as part of the $21.7 billion total (Brown University Costs of War estimate). The $8.7 billion supplemental approved by Congress in April 2024 funded Iron Dome interceptors (at $40,000-$50,000 each), David’s Sling missiles, precision-guided munitions, and the very bunker-buster bombs that killed Nasrallah. The US provided real-time intelligence sharing, diplomatic cover at the UN Security Council (vetoing ceasefire resolutions), and the political legitimacy that allowed Israel to conduct operations that killed over 4,000 people in a country that posed no direct threat to American security.

**The $14 Billion Bill**

The World Bank’s 2025 Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment documented $14 billion in total damage to Lebanon – $6.8 billion in physical destruction of infrastructure, housing, agriculture, and industry, plus $7.2 billion in economic losses from tourism collapse, trade disruption, and displacement costs. This was inflicted on a country with a GDP of just $18 billion – meaning the war destroyed the equivalent of 78% of Lebanon’s entire annual economic output. Combined with the pre-existing economic collapse, the damage may have set Lebanon back not years but decades.

**2025-2026: Ceasefire Violations and Resumption**

The November 2024 ceasefire was violated by Israel almost daily – reconnaissance flights, ground incursions into southern Lebanon, targeted assassinations, and the continued occupation of Lebanese territory. For 15 months, the international community watched Israel systematically hollow out the agreement. When the broader Iran war erupted in late February 2026, Hezbollah launched retaliatory strikes on Israel, citing both the assassination of Khamenei and the 15 months of daily ceasefire violations.

The Lebanese government made extraordinary efforts to stay out of the wider conflict: banning Hezbollah military activities, arresting 12 members, expelling 150+ Iranian nationals. It didn’t matter. Israel struck anyway. The 2026 phase brought renewed horror: a strike on Nabi Chit killed 41 people while reportedly searching for remains of Ron Arad, an Israeli pilot missing since 1986. A Ramada hotel in Beirut was destroyed, killing 5 IRGC Quds Force commanders. Cluster munitions – banned by 111 countries – were used. White phosphorus was deployed on the village of Yohmor. Three UNIFIL peacekeepers were injured. Father Pierre al-Rahi, a Maronite Christian priest, was killed in a double-tap strike. The toll of the 2026 phase alone: 634 killed, 1,586 injured, 816,000 displaced.

**Civilian Displacement: A Nation Uprooted**

The cumulative displacement is staggering. In the 2024 phase, 1.2 million Lebanese were forced from their homes. In the 2026 resumption, another 816,000 fled. In a country of 5.5 million people already hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees, these numbers represent a humanitarian catastrophe of the first order. Schools became shelters. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Families who had fled south Lebanon moved to Beirut, only to find Beirut itself under bombardment. Some crossed into Syria – refugees fleeing into a country that had produced its own refugee crisis.

**The Historical Pattern**

The 1983 barracks bombing killed 241 Americans. The 2006 war killed 1,191 Lebanese with American weapons. The 2023-2026 campaign has killed nearly 5,000 Lebanese with American weapons and American money. Each iteration is more destructive, more expensive, and less strategically coherent than the last. Lebanon has never threatened the United States. It has never attacked American territory. It has never possessed the capability to harm American interests beyond the troops America chose to place in harm’s way. Yet American taxpayers have spent tens of billions arming the forces that have repeatedly devastated this small Mediterranean country of 5.5 million people – a country whose cedar tree appears on its flag as a symbol of peace.”

Yemen War (Saudi Support)

2015–2026 (11 years)

🌍 Middle East ·Yemen, Houthi rebels

👥 500 troops deployed

📅 3,650 days of conflict

The Yemen War (2015-present) represents the most consequential and least understood American military involvement of the 21st century. Since March 2015, the United States has served as the primary enabler of a Saudi Arabian-led coalition bombing campaign that has killed an estimated 377,000 people – 60% from indirect causes including famine, disease, and lack of medical care – and created what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. American involvement includes 4.6 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, mid-air refueling of Saudi bombers (until November 2018), sharing of targeting intelligence, maintenance of Saudi aircraft, naval support for the coalition’s blockade, and diplomatic cover at the United Nations Security Council. U.S.-manufactured bombs and aircraft have been documented striking hospitals, schools, weddings, funerals, water treatment facilities, and a school bus carrying 40 children. Despite bipartisan congressional opposition – including passage of a War Powers Resolution to end U.S. involvement that was vetoed by President Trump – American support has continued through four presidential administrations (Obama, Trump, Biden, and Trump again). The war has no congressional authorization, serves no vital American national security interest, and has demonstrably violated U.S. laws prohibiting arms transfers to countries that systematically target civilians.

“The Full Story

How this conflict unfolded

The Yemen war is the definitive case study in how the United States enables catastrophic violence while maintaining the fiction of non-involvement. For nearly a decade, American-manufactured weapons dropped from American-built aircraft, guided by American intelligence, refueled by American tankers, and maintained by American contractors have killed tens of thousands of Yemeni civilians and created the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. Yet the war is barely known to the American public, has never been authorized by Congress, and continues through multiple administrations of both parties.

The war’s origins lie in Yemen’s failed political transition after the 2011 Arab Spring. When the Houthi movement, a Zaidi Shia revivalist group from northern Yemen, seized the capital Sana’a in September 2014 in alliance with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Saudi Arabia viewed it as an intolerable expansion of Iranian influence on its southern border. On March 26, 2015, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – 29 years old, with no military experience – launched Operation Decisive Storm, projecting a campaign lasting “a few weeks.”

The Obama administration immediately signed on as the Saudi coalition’s indispensable partner. Within days, the Pentagon established a joint planning cell at Saudi Arabia’s air operations center in Riyadh, embedding American military personnel who assisted with target selection and intelligence. U.S. Air Force tankers began refueling Saudi F-15s before bombing missions. American-manufactured precision-guided munitions, cluster bombs, and general-purpose bombs flowed to Saudi Arabia through expedited arms sales. The State Department approved billions in weapons transfers with minimal scrutiny.

The decision to support the Saudi war was made without public debate, congressional authorization, or strategic justification. Yemen poses no threat to the United States. The Houthis, while receiving some Iranian support, are not an Iranian proxy in any meaningful sense – they are a Yemeni movement with Yemeni grievances. The primary U.S. motivation was maintaining the Saudi relationship and the massive arms sales that sustain it. Between 2015 and 2024, U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia totaled approximately 4.6 billion – a revenue stream that creates powerful corporate and bureaucratic constituencies for continued support regardless of humanitarian consequences.

The human cost has been beyond anything the euphemistic language of “supporting our allies” can capture. The Saudi coalition’s air campaign has systematically struck civilian infrastructure: hospitals, schools, water treatment plants, sewage facilities, bridges, power stations, food storage, and ports. These are not collateral damage from strikes on military targets – multiple investigations by the UN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and journalists have documented a pattern of deliberate or recklessly indiscriminate targeting of civilian facilities.

The individual atrocities are numbing in their frequency and horror. In October 2016, coalition aircraft conducted a double-tap strike on a funeral in Sana’a, killing 140 mourners and wounding 500. In August 2018, a coalition bomb hit a school bus in Dahyan, killing 40 children – the bomb was identified as a U.S.-manufactured MK 82 made by Lockheed Martin, sold through a State Department-approved deal. MSF-supported hospitals were struck at least five times despite the coalition having GPS coordinates for every facility. Wedding parties, markets, residential neighborhoods – the bombing has been relentless and indiscriminate.

The blockade has been even more lethal than the bombing. Yemen imports 90% of its food, and the Saudi-led coalition’s naval and air blockade has systematically restricted imports through the port of Hodeidah, through which 70% of Yemen’s supplies flow. The result is the world’s worst famine: an estimated 85,000 children under five died of starvation between 2015 and 2018 alone. The destruction of water infrastructure triggered the largest cholera epidemic in recorded history – over 2.5 million cases. The UN estimates that 377,000 people had died by the end of 2021, with 60% of deaths from indirect causes: starvation, disease, and the collapse of the healthcare system.

The Khashoggi murder in October 2018 briefly pierced the wall of American indifference. The Saudi regime’s assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – personally ordered by MBS according to U.S. intelligence – forced a reckoning with the character of the ally the U.S. was arming. But the reckoning was short-lived: the Trump administration declined to impose meaningful consequences, and arms sales continued.

Congress, to its credit, attempted to assert its constitutional authority. In March 2019, both chambers passed a War Powers Resolution directing the president to withdraw U.S. forces from the Yemen conflict – the first successful invocation of the War Powers Act since its passage in 1973. Trump vetoed the resolution. Congress failed to override. The episode demonstrated the constitutional impotence of the legislative branch in matters of war: even bipartisan majorities cannot halt presidential war-making when the executive is determined to continue.

Biden’s February 2021 pledge to end U.S. support for “offensive operations” in Yemen was carefully crafted to change the rhetoric while preserving the substance of American involvement. The U.S. stopped providing aerial refueling (which had actually ended under Trump in 2018) and suspended some precision-guided munition sales. But intelligence sharing continued. Aircraft maintenance and spare parts contracts continued. “Defensive” arms sales – including the systems that enable the bombing campaign – continued. The distinction between “offensive” and “defensive” support is a legal fiction: you cannot separate the bullets from the gun.

The war’s strategic futility is now undeniable. Nearly a decade of bombing, at a cost of hundreds of billions to the Saudi treasury, has achieved nothing. The Houthis control more territory and possess more military capability than when the war began. Their 2023-2024 attacks on Red Sea shipping demonstrated the ability to project force across an entire region – something they could not do in 2015. The U.S. and UK are now bombing Yemen directly, having created the conditions for the very threat they claim to be addressing.

The 4.6 billion in U.S. arms sales that fueled the war dwarfs the humanitarian aid provided to address the catastrophe those weapons created. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and General Dynamics have profited enormously from the conflict. The Saudi relationship – built on petrodollars, arms sales, and geopolitical convenience – has proven more valuable to American policymakers than the lives of Yemeni children.

Yemen reveals the structural incentives that make American war-making so difficult to stop. The arms industry profits from weapons sales. The executive branch values the Saudi alliance. The military provides support as a matter of institutional routine. Congressional opposition is structurally insufficient to overcome a presidential veto. The American public is largely unaware of the war and its consequences. Each element of the system has its own logic; together they produce a machine that enables mass killing with no mechanism for accountability or restraint.

The 377,000 dead, the 85,000 starved children, the 2.5 million cholera cases, the generation of traumatized and malnourished survivors – these are not the unintended consequences of American policy. They are the predictable and predicted results of a deliberate decision to arm and support a military campaign against one of the poorest countries on earth, made by officials who understood exactly what would happen and chose to proceed because the Saudi relationship was deemed more important than Yemeni lives. That is not a failure of policy. It is the policy working as designed.”

Somalia (AFRICOM Operations)

2007–Present(19 years)

🌍 Africa ·Somalia

👥 900 troops deployed

📅 6,935 days of conflict

Ongoing U.S. military operations against al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia since 2007, conducted primarily through AFRICOM drone strikes, special operations raids, and ‘advise and assist’ missions. The U.S. has conducted over 280 airstrikes in Somalia since 2007, killing thousands of militants and an unknown number of civilians. Approximately 900 U.S. troops rotate through Somali bases including Baledogle Airfield and compounds in Mogadishu. Five U.S. service members and three U.S. military contractors have been killed. The campaign has oscillated wildly between escalation and withdrawal – Trump dramatically increased strikes then withdrew troops; Biden redeployed them. Al-Shabaab remains the most powerful militant group in Africa, controlling significant territory and conducting devastating attacks, despite nearly two decades of U.S. military operations.

“The Full Story

How this conflict unfolded

The United States never really left Somalia. After the humiliating 1994 withdrawal following the ‘Black Hawk Down’ disaster that killed 18 American soldiers, U.S. forces quietly returned in the 2000s under the banner of the Global War on Terror. What began as occasional airstrikes against suspected al-Qaeda operatives has metastasized into a nearly two-decade military campaign that has survived four presidential administrations, produced no strategic victory, and demonstrates the self-perpetuating logic of the ‘forever war’ better than perhaps any other U.S. military operation.

THE ORIGINS: BLOWBACK FROM BLOWBACK

The current Somalia campaign is rooted in a cascade of unintended consequences. In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) – a coalition of sharia courts – seized control of Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia, bringing the first semblance of order to the country since the 1991 collapse of the Siad Barre government. The ICU was hardly a progressive force, but it reopened the Mogadishu airport and seaport, cleared checkpoints, and reduced piracy – accomplishments that 15 years of international intervention had failed to achieve.

The Bush administration, viewing any Islamist governance through the post-9/11 lens, backed an Ethiopian invasion in December 2006 to oust the ICU. The intervention succeeded militarily – Ethiopian forces captured Mogadishu within weeks – but the political consequences were catastrophic. The ICU’s radical youth wing, al-Shabaab (Arabic for ‘The Youth’), broke away and launched a ferocious insurgency against the Ethiopian occupation and the internationally backed Transitional Federal Government.

Al-Shabaab’s rise was textbook blowback: U.S.-supported military intervention radicalized a population, destroyed a flawed but functional governance structure, and created the exact security vacuum that enabled an extremist group to thrive. The group grew from a few hundred fighters in 2007 to an estimated 5,000-9,000 by 2010, fueled by anger at the Ethiopian occupation, clan grievances, and al-Shabaab’s ability to provide rough justice and social services in areas under its control.

THE DRONE WAR: ESCALATION WITHOUT STRATEGY

U.S. airstrikes in Somalia began in January 2007 with AC-130 gunship attacks on suspected al-Qaeda operatives. The strikes – conducted without congressional authorization, public debate, or even widespread public knowledge – established the template for the next 19 years: classified operations, disputed casualty counts, and a target list that grew year after year without ever producing decisive results.

The Obama administration treated Somalia as a laboratory for the ‘light footprint’ counterterrorism model – small numbers of special operations forces, drone strikes, and support for local partner forces (primarily the African Union’s AMISOM mission). Obama authorized approximately 36 airstrikes in Somalia over eight years, killing several al-Shabaab leaders including Ahmed Abdi Godane in 2014. But each leadership decapitation was followed by rapid replacement, and the group’s overall capability was barely dented.

The Trump administration dramatically escalated the air campaign, treating Somalia as a free-fire zone. Trump designated Somalia an ‘area of active hostilities’ in March 2017, loosening the rules of engagement and giving field commanders authority to order strikes without White House approval. The results were immediate: 35 strikes in 2017, 47 in 2018, 63 in 2019 – more in three years than Obama conducted in eight. Trump conducted more airstrikes in Somalia than in any other country during his first term.

The escalation produced no strategic breakthrough. Al-Shabaab lost some urban territory to AMISOM offensives but retained control of vast rural areas, continued its bombing campaign, and demonstrated its resilience with devastating attacks including the 2017 Mogadishu truck bombing that killed 587 people – one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history.

THE MOGADISHU TRUCK BOMBING: THE ATTACK NOBODY NOTICED

On October 14, 2017, al-Shabaab detonated a massive truck bomb at the K5 intersection in Mogadishu, killing 587 people and wounding over 300 – more than the 2004 Madrid bombings, the 2005 London bombings, and the Bataclan attack combined. Entire buildings collapsed. Bodies were carbonized beyond recognition. The blast crater was over 50 feet wide.

The attack received minimal Western media coverage. No world leaders changed their social media profile pictures. No hashtags trended. No buildings were illuminated in Somali colors. The disparity in attention between terrorism in Western capitals and terrorism in African cities revealed the implicit hierarchy of human suffering that undergirds the War on Terror: some victims matter; others don’t.

The attack also undermined the central premise of the U.S. campaign – that airstrikes were degrading al-Shabaab’s capability. The group that the U.S. had been bombing for a decade carried out one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history, demonstrating that air campaigns alone cannot defeat a deeply rooted insurgency.

U.S. BASES AND COMPOUNDS

The U.S. military presence in Somalia operates from several key installations. Baledogle Airfield, located 90 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu, serves as the primary base for drone operations and special forces staging. The facility has been significantly expanded with American investment, including runway improvements, aircraft hangars, and living facilities for rotating forces.

In Mogadishu, U.S. personnel operate from fortified compounds near the international airport, co-located with AMISOM headquarters and the Somali government’s Villa Somalia complex. Additional U.S. presence exists at forward operating locations across south-central Somalia, though the exact locations and numbers remain classified.

Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti – 800 miles north – provides strategic support, serving as the hub for MQ-9 Reaper drone flights that transit to Somali airspace. The drone flights require overflight permission from Ethiopia, which has occasionally been complicated by regional politics.

AMERICAN CASUALTIES: THE COST OF A ‘LOW-FOOTPRINT’ WAR

The U.S. has suffered at least 8 fatalities in Somalia operations since 2007:

– Staff Sergeant Alexander Conrad, killed by al-Shabaab mortar fire in the Jubaland region on June 8, 2018 – the first U.S. combat death publicly acknowledged in Somalia since 1993. – Specialist Henry Mayfield Jr. (U.S. Army), killed in the January 5, 2020 al-Shabaab attack on Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya. – Two U.S. military contractors (Department of Defense civilians) also killed in the Manda Bay attack. – Additional casualties in classified operations that have not been publicly attributed.

The Manda Bay attack was particularly significant because it struck a facility used by U.S. forces in Kenya – demonstrating that al-Shabaab could target American personnel across borders and that the ‘commuter’ model of remote operations offered no safety advantage.

THE WITHDRAWAL-REDEPLOYMENT CYCLE

Trump’s December 2020 order to withdraw approximately 700 troops from Somalia was presented as fulfilling his promise to end ‘forever wars.’ In reality, the troops simply relocated to Kenya and Djibouti, continuing operations through ‘commuter’ deployments – flying into Somalia for specific missions and then returning. Airstrikes continued at roughly the same pace. AFRICOM publicly described the arrangement as ‘inefficient and unsustainable.’

Biden reversed the withdrawal in May 2022, redeploying approximately 500 troops to Somalia and authorizing the Pentagon to target al-Shabaab leaders – essentially restoring the status quo ante. The withdrawal and redeployment accomplished nothing except demonstrating the bipartisan consensus on perpetual military engagement: the details change, the mission continues.

AL-SHABAAB: AN ENEMY THAT GROWS DESPITE BEING BOMBED

Al-Shabaab’s resilience defies the logic of military attrition. Despite 280+ U.S. airstrikes, dozens of special operations raids, and leadership decapitation strikes, the group in 2024 remains Africa’s most powerful and well-funded militant organization. Key factors explain this resilience:

Revenue: Al-Shabaab generates an estimated $100-180 million annually through a sophisticated ‘taxation’ system – extorting businesses, taxing agriculture, controlling charcoal exports, and levying fees on livestock and imports. This revenue exceeds the Somali government’s domestic revenue, giving al-Shabaab a financial advantage that no amount of airstrikes can address.

Governance: In areas under its control, al-Shabaab provides courts (applying sharia law but perceived as less corrupt than government courts), conflict resolution, and basic services. Many Somalis, while not ideologically aligned with al-Shabaab, prefer its governance to the corrupt, clan-based politics of the internationally backed government.

Recruitment: Each U.S. airstrike that kills civilians becomes a recruitment tool. Al-Shabaab’s narrative – that foreign powers are bombing Somalia – resonates in communities where people have experienced drone strikes firsthand. The group draws from a population where 70% of people are under 30, unemployment exceeds 60%, and legitimate economic opportunities are virtually nonexistent.

Clan dynamics: Somalia’s clan system provides al-Shabaab with a recruitment base and protection network that outsiders cannot penetrate. The group has embedded itself in clan structures, making it impossible to eliminate through military means alone.

THE CIVILIAN TOLL

Civilian casualties from U.S. operations in Somalia are poorly documented and almost certainly significantly underreported. AFRICOM claims that its strikes are ‘precision’ operations with minimal civilian harm. Independent monitors – Airwars, Amnesty International, and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism – consistently report higher civilian death tolls.

Amnesty International’s 2019 report ‘The Hidden US War in Somalia’ documented 14 strikes that killed at least 17 civilians (five of them children), concluding that some strikes may constitute war crimes. The report found that the U.S. military’s assessment process was fundamentally flawed – relying on post-strike intelligence that was often incomplete, biased, or deliberately minimized.

The psychological impact of drone warfare on Somali civilians extends far beyond the direct casualties. Communities living under drone surveillance – hearing the constant buzz of Reapers overhead – report pervasive anxiety, sleep disorders, and behavioral changes. The fear of strikes disrupts markets, schools, and social gatherings, effectively punishing entire populations for the actions of militant groups over which they have no control.

THE LIBERTARIAN ANALYSIS

The Somalia campaign is the perfect illustration of the GWOT’s self-perpetuating logic:

1. U.S. intervention destabilizes a country (backing the 2006 Ethiopian invasion) 2. Destabilization creates an extremist group (al-Shabaab emerges from the ruins of the ICU)

3. The extremist group is used to justify more intervention (airstrikes, special operations)

4. Intervention creates civilian casualties that fuel recruitment for the extremist group

5. The strengthened extremist group justifies further escalation

6. Return to step 3

This cycle has operated continuously since 2007 with no strategic endgame. The 2001 AUMF – written to target those responsible for 9/11 – now justifies strikes in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, against a group that didn’t exist on 9/11, in a war that most Americans don’t know is happening. The approximately $5 billion spent on Somalia operations since 2007 has produced no measurable progress toward defeating al-Shabaab, while the group’s revenue, territory, and attack capability remain formidable. This is not a war America is winning slowly – it is a war that has no definition of winning.”

War Against ISIS

2014–Present(12 years)

🌍 Middle East ·Iraq, Syria

👥 5,000 troops deployed

📅 4,380 days of conflict

Operation Inherent Resolve – US-led coalition against ISIS/ISIL after they captured Mosul and declared a “caliphate.” Over 34,000 airstrikes. ISIS territorial caliphate defeated by 2019 but insurgency continues. 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq and 900 in Syria as of 2026.

“The Full Story

How this conflict unfolded

The war against ISIS (2014-present) is the ultimate story of American foreign policy blowback – the U.S. created the conditions for the Islamic State through the catastrophic 2003 Iraq invasion, then spent $115 billion and five years destroying the monster it had birthed, only to see ISIS evolve into a global insurgency that continues to claim lives worldwide.

ISIS emerged from the ashes of al-Qaeda in Iraq, founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2004. But the group’s transformation into a proto-state began with Obama’s Syrian intervention and the collapse of Iraqi governance under Nouri al-Maliki. When Paul Bremer disbanded the Iraqi military in 2003, he created 400,000 unemployed soldiers with military training, weapons expertise, and burning grievances against the United States. Many became the military backbone of ISIS – particularly after Maliki’s sectarian government systematically purged Sunni officers and politicians from 2006-2014.

ISIS burst onto the global stage in June 2014 with a shock offensive that captured Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, with just 1,500 fighters routing 30,000 Iraqi soldiers. The Iraqi army – built over 11 years at a cost of $25 billion in U.S. training and equipment – dissolved in 72 hours. Soldiers abandoned uniforms, weapons, and vehicles in the streets, fleeing in their underwear. ISIS captured $429 million from Mosul’s banks, thousands of vehicles, and enough heavy weapons to equip a conventional army.

On June 29, 2014, ISIS declared a ‘caliphate’ stretching from eastern Syria to western Iraq – an area the size of Great Britain controlling 8 million people. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph, imposed a regime of medieval savagery: public beheadings, mass executions, crucifixions, sex slavery, forced conversions, and the systematic destruction of ancient cultural heritage. ISIS militants used sledgehammers and explosives to destroy 2,000-year-old artifacts in Palmyra, bulldozed the ancient city of Nimrud, and blew up the tomb of the prophet Jonah in Mosul.

ISIS perfected the art of terror as propaganda. The group’s slickly produced execution videos – featuring the beheadings of American journalists James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller – shocked the world and forced Obama’s hand. The sight of orange-clad prisoners being burned alive in cages, thrown from buildings, or drowned in swimming pools was designed to terrorize enemies and recruit followers. It worked: ISIS attracted 40,000 foreign fighters from 110 countries, more than any jihadist group in history.

The U.S. response, Operation Inherent Resolve, began with humanitarian airdrops to trapped Yazidis on Mount Sinjar in August 2014. But the campaign quickly escalated into the largest U.S. military operation since the Iraq War. Over 34,000 Coalition airstrikes were conducted against ISIS targets across Iraq and Syria from 2014-2019, supported by 5,000 U.S. troops, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, Iraqi security forces, and Syrian Democratic Forces.

The battle for Mosul (October 2016 – July 2017) epitomized the campaign’s brutal arithmetic. Iraqi forces, supported by U.S. airpower and special operations advisers, fought a nine-month urban battle that reduced much of the city to rubble. An estimated 9,000-11,000 civilians died in the fighting – more than the total number of ISIS fighters in the city. Entire neighborhoods were flattened by Coalition airstrikes and Iraqi artillery. By the time Mosul was ‘liberated,’ it looked like Stalingrad after the Nazis.

The destruction of Raqqa was even more complete. The Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by 4,000 U.S. airstrikes, systematically demolished ISIS’s de facto capital. The city was 80% destroyed, with civilian casualties in the thousands. Coalition forces fired 35,000 artillery rounds and dropped 20,000 tons of explosives on a city of 200,000 people. Raqqa was ‘saved’ by being annihilated.

The human cost of the anti-ISIS campaign is staggering and poorly documented. Airwars, an independent monitoring group, estimates that Coalition strikes killed between 8,000 and 13,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon acknowledges only 1,400 civilian deaths – a ten-fold discrepancy that reveals either systematic undercounting or willful blindness. Iraqi government forces, Kurdish militias, and Syrian groups supported by the U.S. killed thousands more civilians in ground operations.

By March 2019, ISIS had lost its last territorial stronghold at Baghuz, Syria. The caliphate was destroyed, al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. special operations raid, and the group’s territorial ambitions were crushed. But ISIS didn’t disappear – it evolved. The group now operates as a decentralized insurgency across Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, the Philippines, West Africa, and the Sahel. ISIS-affiliated attacks in Iraq alone killed over 1,000 people in 2023.

The libertarian analysis is devastating: the United States spent $2 trillion destroying the Iraqi state in 2003, creating the conditions for ISIS to emerge. It then spent $115 billion more destroying ISIS’s territorial caliphate, killing thousands of additional civilians in the process. ISIS still exists as a global insurgency, Syrian and Iraqi cities lie in ruins, millions remain displaced, and 3,400 U.S. troops remain indefinitely deployed across Iraq and Syria with no exit strategy. This is the ultimate expression of the military-industrial complex: the U.S. government created a problem, spent vast sums ‘solving’ it, and then maintained a permanent military presence to ‘manage’ the consequences. The war against ISIS proves that American military intervention creates more problems than it solves.”

Global Drone Campaign

2004–Present (22 years)

🌍 Multiple (Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya) ·Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya

0

📅 8,030 days of conflict

The Global Drone Campaign (2004-present) represents the most significant transformation in American warfare since the nuclear bomb: the development of a permanent, worldwide apparatus for extrajudicial killing by remote control. Operating across at least seven countries – Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya – the United States has conducted over 14,000 drone strikes since 2004, killing an estimated 8,858-16,901 people including 910-2,200 civilians and 283-454 children (Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates). The program, conducted jointly by the CIA and the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), operates under the legal authority of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force – a 60-word resolution passed to authorize action against the perpetrators of 9/11, now stretched to cover killings in countries the U.S. has never declared war on, against organizations that did not exist on September 11, 2001. The campaign has included the deliberate killing of American citizens without trial, the use of “signature strikes” targeting unidentified individuals based on behavioral patterns, and the systematic undercounting of civilian casualties through the classification of all military-age males in strike zones as combatants. Zero American military personnel have been killed in drone operations, making it warfare without political cost – and therefore warfare without democratic accountability.

“The Full Story

How this conflict unfolded

The Global Drone Campaign is the most morally consequential military program in American history since the atomic bomb – not because of the scale of killing, which is modest by the standards of America’s major wars, but because of what it represents: the routinization of extrajudicial execution as a permanent instrument of state policy, operated without meaningful oversight, accountability, or democratic consent.

The program began almost accidentally. In the aftermath of 9/11, the CIA armed Predator surveillance drones with Hellfire missiles, creating a weapon that could find, track, and kill a human being from the other side of the world with the press of a button. The first successful strike killed al-Qaeda commander Mohammed Atef in Afghanistan in November 2001. By 2004, the CIA was conducting strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas. By 2009, the program had expanded to Yemen and Somalia. By 2020, a drone was used to assassinate a senior military official of a sovereign nation – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani – at a civilian airport.

The evolution from targeted killing of identified al-Qaeda leaders to the routine execution of unidentified individuals based on behavioral patterns occurred gradually, without public debate, congressional authorization, or judicial review. The two most consequential innovations were “signature strikes” and the redefinition of “combatant.”

Signature strikes, introduced around 2008, authorized the killing of people whose identities were unknown but whose behavior, observed through drone cameras from thousands of miles away, fit patterns that analysts associated with militant activity. Loading a vehicle, traveling in a convoy, gathering in a group – these “signatures” could trigger a Hellfire missile. The people being killed were frequently unknown to their killers. In one five-month period in Afghanistan (Operation Haymaker), 90% of those killed were not the intended targets.

The redefinition of “combatant” was even more insidious. The Obama administration adopted a policy of counting all military-age males (roughly 16-65) killed in a strike zone as combatants unless posthumous evidence specifically proved otherwise. Since the dead cannot protest their innocence and investigations in remote tribal areas are nearly impossible, this classification method effectively guaranteed that civilian casualties would be systematically undercounted. Official U.S. government casualty figures were, by design, fiction.

The Pakistan campaign was the most intensive theater of drone warfare. Between 2004 and 2018, the CIA conducted approximately 430 strikes in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, primarily in North and South Waziristan. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates these strikes killed between 2,515 and 4,026 people, including 424-969 civilians and 172-207 children. The strikes peaked under Obama, averaging one every three days in 2010.

The human cost in Pakistan’s tribal areas was devastating beyond the raw casualty numbers. Stanford and NYU’s “Living Under Drones” report (2012) documented the psychological terrorism inflicted on civilian populations who lived under the constant buzz of surveillance drones. Children were afraid to go to school. Families were afraid to attend funerals (which were targeted by “double-tap” strikes). Communities were afraid to gather for tribal meetings (jirgas) – a March 2011 strike on a jirga in Datta Khel killed 42 tribal elders meeting to resolve a mining dispute. The report concluded that drones had created “a pervasive atmosphere of fear and anxiety” among civilians who had no connection to militancy.

The Yemen campaign, conducted by both the CIA and JSOC, targeted al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and later the Houthi movement. Between 2002 and 2023, the U.S. conducted approximately 400 strikes in Yemen, killing an estimated 1,100-1,700 people including 130-230 civilians. The most legally and morally consequential strikes occurred in 2011: the deliberate killing of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki on September 30, and the killing of his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman two weeks later.

The al-Awlaki killings represent the most extreme assertion of executive power in American history. Anwar al-Awlaki was an American citizen, born in New Mexico, who became an al-Qaeda propagandist and was involved in operational planning. He was undoubtedly dangerous. But he was never indicted, never charged with a crime, and never given any opportunity to surrender or contest the evidence against him. His killing was authorized by a secret Justice Department memo, reviewed by no court, and carried out by CIA operatives in a foreign country. When the ACLU filed suit challenging the program, the government argued that the president’s authority to kill American citizens was a “political question” beyond judicial review – effectively claiming that the executive branch has unreviewable power over life and death.

The killing of 16-year-old Abdulrahman was even more disturbing. Born in Denver, the teenager had no known involvement in terrorism. He was killed while eating dinner at an outdoor restaurant. The government offered no coherent justification, and when pressed, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested the boy “should have had a more responsible father.” In 2017, the al-Awlaki family’s suffering was compounded when 8-year-old Nawar al-Awlaki, Anwar’s daughter, was killed in a Navy SEAL raid in Yemen authorized by President Trump.

The Somalia campaign, conducted primarily by AFRICOM under both CIA and military authority, targeted al-Shabaab militants. Between 2007 and 2023, the U.S. conducted approximately 280 strikes in Somalia, killing an estimated 1,200-2,100 people including 15-70 civilians (though these figures are likely significant underestimates due to the difficulty of monitoring strikes in Somalia’s remote areas). Trump dramatically escalated strikes in Somalia, declaring portions of the country “areas of active hostilities” that allowed field commanders to authorize strikes without White House approval.

The rivalry between the CIA and JSOC drone programs created a parallel killing bureaucracy with different rules and oversight structures. The CIA’s program, as a covert action, was subject to congressional intelligence committee notification but not public disclosure. JSOC’s program, as a military operation, operated under different legal authorities and targeting procedures. In practice, the existence of two parallel programs meant that if one had restrictions, targets could be passed to the other. This bureaucratic competition actually expanded the killing – each program had institutional incentives to demonstrate its value by conducting more strikes.

The technology of remote killing also created a new form of psychological injury. Drone operators, sitting in climate-controlled trailers at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada or other installations, watched their targets for days or weeks through high-resolution cameras – observing their daily routines, their families, their children – before pressing the button that killed them. Then they watched the aftermath in real-time video: the explosion, the body parts, the survivors stumbling through the rubble. At the end of their shift, they drove home to have dinner with their own families. Studies found that PTSD rates among drone operators were comparable to those of combat troops – the intimacy of killing from a screen, combined with the bizarre normalcy of commuting to and from assassination, created a unique form of moral injury.

The strategic failure of the drone campaign is now well-documented. Multiple studies – by Stanford University, NYU, the Stimson Center, and former military and intelligence officials – have concluded that drone strikes are counterproductive in the long term. Every civilian killed creates a family with legitimate grievances against the United States. Every mistaken strike on a wedding, funeral, or tribal gathering radicalizes communities that had no previous hostility toward America. A retired general told the Stanford researchers: “Drone strikes are like mowing the grass. You kill the leaders, and new ones grow back – often more radical than the ones you killed.”

The numbers tell the story of strategic failure: despite killing thousands of suspected militants over two decades, the organizations targeted by drones have generally grown rather than shrunk. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was more dangerous in 2015 than in 2009 despite hundreds of drone strikes. Al-Shabaab controlled more territory in 2020 than in 2011. The Taliban won the war in Afghanistan. The drone campaign has been tactically effective at killing individuals while being strategically irrelevant to the conflicts it was supposed to resolve.

Perhaps the most consequential legacy of the drone campaign is the precedent it sets for other nations. The United States established that a government can kill anyone, anywhere, without trial, evidence, or accountability, based on secret intelligence reviewed by no independent authority. China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and dozens of other nations are now developing or have developed armed drone capabilities. The norms the U.S. established – that sovereignty is no barrier to assassination, that “signature” behavior can justify killing, that transparency is optional – will be invoked by every authoritarian government that acquires this technology. The world the drone campaign created is one where everyone lives under the shadow of potential execution by remote control – a dystopia pioneered by the world’s oldest democracy.”

Global War on Terror (Other Operations)

2001–Present(25 years)

🌍 Global ·Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya, Djibouti, Libya, Cameroon, Uganda, Mali, Tunisia

👥 12,000 troops deployed

📅 9,125 days of conflict

Beyond the major wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the United States conducts counterterrorism operations in at least 78 countries spanning every continent except Antarctica. U.S. Special Forces have deployed to 149 countries – 75% of the world’s nations. These operations include training missions, intelligence operations, drone strikes, special operations raids, ‘advise and assist’ deployments, secret detention and interrogation programs, extraordinary rendition flights, signals intelligence collection, and the construction of a vast network of military bases and lily-pad outposts across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The ‘Other Operations’ category encompasses the full scope of the Global War on Terror beyond the named conflicts – a shadow war fought largely in secret, authorized by a single 60-word sentence passed three days after 9/11.

“The Full Story

How this conflict unfolded

The ‘Global War on Terror’ – the umbrella term for America’s post-9/11 military campaigns – expanded far beyond Afghanistan and Iraq into a shadowy, globe-spanning network of military operations that touches every inhabited continent. Under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) – a 60-word sentence passed three days after September 11 in a moment of national trauma – the United States has conducted military operations in at least 85 countries, deployed special forces to 149 nations, and built a counterterrorism infrastructure that would make George Orwell blanch.

This entry covers the ‘other’ operations – the ones beyond the named conflicts, the ones most Americans don’t know exist. They include the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), operating from Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti with 4,000+ personnel conducting strikes and surveillance across East Africa. They include the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership, spending $100 million annually across 10 West African nations to train local militaries that frequently overthrow their own governments (as Niger demonstrated in 2023). They include Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines, where 600+ Special Forces spent over a decade hunting Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Mindanao. They include scores of smaller deployments, training missions, and intelligence operations that collectively constitute the largest sustained military enterprise in human history.

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK: A BLANK CHECK FOR GLOBAL WAR

The foundation of the entire enterprise is the 2001 AUMF, which authorizes the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.” This 60-word sentence has been interpreted by four successive administrations to authorize military operations against groups that didn’t exist on 9/11 (ISIS, al-Shabaab, ISIS-K, AQIM), in countries that had nothing to do with 9/11 (Somalia, Niger, Libya, Philippines, Yemen), using methods never contemplated by Congress (drone assassination of American citizens, indefinite detention without trial, extraordinary rendition to torture states).

Only one member of Congress voted against the AUMF: Representative Barbara Lee of California. She warned it was a “blank check” for endless war. She received death threats and was called a traitor. Twenty-five years later, she has been proven prophetic beyond her worst fears.

THE SECRET PRISON AND TORTURE PROGRAM

One of the darkest chapters of the GWOT was the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program – a network of secret prisons (‘black sites’) where terrorism suspects were subjected to what the government euphemistically called ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.’ The 2014 Senate Torture Report documented the full horror: waterboarding (simulated drowning), rectal feeding and rectal rehydration (sexual assault), sleep deprivation for up to 180 hours (over 7 days), stress positions causing permanent physical damage, confinement in coffin-sized boxes, mock executions, threats against detainees’ families, and ice water immersion causing hypothermia.

The black sites operated in Thailand (‘Cat’s Eye’), Poland (Stare Kiejkuty), Romania (‘Bright Light’), Lithuania, Afghanistan (‘Salt Pit’ and ‘Cobalt’), and other undisclosed locations. At the Salt Pit in Afghanistan, detainee Gul Rahman was chained to a concrete floor in freezing temperatures and died of hypothermia. No one was prosecuted.

The extraordinary rendition program was equally horrifying. The CIA operated a fleet of aircraft through front companies (Aero Contractors, Jeppesen Dataplan), flying prisoners to countries known for torture – Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Jordan, Uzbekistan – where they were interrogated using methods even the CIA wouldn’t employ directly. Over 136 individuals were rendered between 2001-2005. Some were entirely innocent – Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, was rendered to Syria based on faulty intelligence and tortured for a year before being released without charges. Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen, was kidnapped in Macedonia, rendered to Afghanistan, tortured for five months, and then dumped on a roadside in Albania when the CIA realized they had the wrong man.

The Senate Torture Report concluded that the CIA’s techniques produced no actionable intelligence that couldn’t have been obtained through legal interrogation methods. The program’s architects – psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, who were paid $81 million to design the torture program – faced no criminal consequences. CIA Director Gina Haspel, who oversaw the Thailand black site, was promoted.

THE HORN OF AFRICA: CAMP LEMONNIER AND CJTF-HOA

Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti – a tiny nation strategically located at the mouth of the Red Sea – became America’s most important African military installation. Established in 2002, it grew from a small outpost to a sprawling base hosting over 4,000 personnel, serving as the hub for the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). From Lemonnier, the U.S. conducts drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia, surveillance across East Africa, special operations raids, and training missions for partner forces across the region.

The base’s $1.4 billion expansion transformed it from a temporary counterterrorism outpost into a permanent military installation – a de facto American colony in Africa, leased from the Djiboutian government for $63 million per year. Djibouti also hosts military bases from France, China, Japan, and Italy – making it the most militarized patch of real estate on earth relative to its size.

CJTF-HOA’s Area of Responsibility covers 20 countries across East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Its operations range from visible humanitarian missions (well-drilling, school construction) to classified strikes and intelligence operations. The task force has been instrumental in the drone campaigns against al-Shabaab in Somalia and AQAP in Yemen – campaigns that have killed thousands, including hundreds of civilians, with minimal public awareness or congressional oversight.

THE TRANS-SAHARA COUNTERTERRORISM PARTNERSHIP

The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP), launched in 2005 as an expansion of the Pan-Sahel Initiative, represents America’s attempt to prevent the Sahara-Sahel region from becoming the next Afghanistan. The program spans 10 countries – Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Burkina Faso – providing training, equipment, intelligence sharing, and joint exercises to partner militaries.

The irony is brutal: TSCTP-trained officers have led military coups in Mali (2012, 2020, 2021), Burkina Faso (2022), Niger (2023), and Guinea (2021). Captain Amadou Sanogo, who overthrew Mali’s democratic government in 2012, was trained by U.S. Special Forces. The U.S. literally trained the soldiers who destroyed the democracies the program was supposed to protect. The pattern is consistent: American military training strengthens armies that then seize power, creating the instability that justifies more American involvement.

After the 2023 Niger coup – which expelled U.S. forces and handed a $110 million drone base to Russian Wagner mercenaries – the entire Sahel strategy collapsed. Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger formed a new alliance, expelled French and American forces, and turned to Russia for military support. Twenty years and billions of dollars in American investment produced nothing – less than nothing, since the region is now aligned with Moscow.

OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM – PHILIPPINES

Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines (OEF-P) was one of the GWOT’s earliest and most sustained secondary fronts. From 2002 to 2015, 600+ U.S. Special Forces operated in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, targeting Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) – a Moro separatist-jihadist organization responsible for kidnappings, bombings, and the 2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing that killed 116 people.

The Philippines operation was initially considered a success story – Abu Sayyaf was degraded from 1,200+ fighters to a few hundred, key leaders were killed or captured, and the U.S. maintained its relationship with Manila. But the operation also demonstrated the GWOT’s whack-a-mole problem: as Abu Sayyaf weakened, elements pledged allegiance to ISIS, and in 2017, ISIS-affiliated militants seized the city of Marawi, triggering a five-month battle that killed over 1,100 people and displaced 360,000.

The Philippines deployment cost an estimated $6.4 billion over 13 years and involved direct combat (despite the ‘advisory’ label) – including the 2002 rescue mission for hostage Martin Burnham (who was killed during the rescue) and numerous firefights in the jungles of Mindanao and Basilan.

THE SURVEILLANCE STATE

The GWOT’s most pervasive domestic legacy is the surveillance apparatus revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013. Programs like PRISM (collecting data from Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and other tech companies), UPSTREAM (tapping undersea fiber optic cables), XKeyscore (searching nearly all internet activity in real-time), and BOUNDLESS INFORMANT (tracking metadata collection) demonstrated that the U.S. government had built the most comprehensive surveillance system in human history – monitoring the communications of billions of people worldwide, including millions of American citizens.

The legal framework for this surveillance was Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act and Section 702 of FISA Amendments Act – laws passed in the GWOT’s panic that were interpreted secretly by the FISA Court to authorize mass collection far beyond what Congress intended. The NSA collected metadata on every phone call made in the United States, tracked email and internet activity globally, and shared intelligence with Five Eyes partners (UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) to circumvent domestic legal restrictions.

The surveillance state outlived every other aspect of the GWOT. While troops withdrew from Afghanistan and Iraq, the surveillance infrastructure remained – and expanded. The capabilities developed to track terrorists are now used for immigration enforcement, drug investigations, and domestic law enforcement. The GWOT built a surveillance architecture that the Founders’ nightmares couldn’t have imagined.

THE COST

The full financial cost of the ‘other’ GWOT operations is impossible to calculate precisely because much of the spending is classified, spread across multiple agencies (DoD, CIA, NSA, DIA, State Department), and deliberately obscured in budget documents. Brown University’s Costs of War project estimates total post-9/11 spending at over $8 trillion – including direct military operations ($2.3 trillion), veteran care ($2.2 trillion), interest on war borrowing ($1.1 trillion), Homeland Security ($1.1 trillion), and increases to the Pentagon’s base budget ($900 billion).

The ‘other operations’ – everything beyond the named conflicts – account for an estimated $80-100 billion in direct costs. But this figure is misleading because these operations are deeply intertwined with the broader GWOT infrastructure. Camp Lemonnier supports operations across multiple conflicts. SOCOM’s 70,000 personnel rotate through dozens of countries. The intelligence community’s $80+ billion annual budget serves all operations simultaneously. The true cost of America’s global counterterrorism enterprise is embedded in the Pentagon’s $900+ billion annual budget in ways that resist accounting.

THE HUMAN TOLL

Brown University estimates that post-9/11 wars have directly killed over 940,000 people and displaced 38 million – more than any conflict since World War II. The ‘other operations’ have killed thousands: drone strikes in Pakistan (2,500-4,000), Yemen (1,500+), Somalia (1,200+), and Libya (500+). Special operations raids have killed hundreds more. Extraordinary rendition and torture programs destroyed dozens of lives even among those who survived. And the indirect deaths – from destroyed healthcare systems, displacement, malnutrition, and the cascading effects of destabilization – number in the hundreds of thousands.

The U.S. military’s own casualty figures for ‘other operations’ are deliberately understated. The 65 deaths and 150 wounded listed here represent only acknowledged combat casualties in named operations outside the major war zones. The true figure – including training accidents, classified operations, and contractor deaths – is significantly higher.

THE PERPETUAL WAR MACHINE

The most profound consequence of the GWOT’s ‘other operations’ is institutional: the creation of a self-perpetuating war machine that generates its own justification. The pattern is consistent across every theater: U.S. intervention destabilizes a region → destabilization creates extremism → extremism justifies more intervention → intervention creates more destabilization. This cycle has operated in Somalia, Yemen, Libya, the Sahel, Pakistan, and the Philippines for over two decades with no end in sight.

The 2001 AUMF provides the legal lubrication for this perpetual motion machine. Each new group – al-Shabaab, ISIS, AQIM, ISIS-K, Jundallah, Boko Haram – is declared an ‘associated force’ of al-Qaeda, bringing it under the AUMF’s umbrella regardless of any actual connection to 9/11. The authorization has metastasized from a response to a specific attack into a general license for global war – exactly the kind of permanent military establishment the Founders warned against in every major founding document.

The libertarian critique is devastating: the United States government has used the shock of 9/11 to construct a permanent warfare state operating across the globe with minimal oversight, no democratic accountability, and no defined enemy, battlefield, or objective. The ‘war on terror’ – like the ‘war on drugs’ and the ‘war on poverty’ – is a war against a concept, which means it can never be won and therefore never needs to end. It is the perfect war for those who profit from war.”

May 8 2026 On this Victory Europe Day Celebrating Liberation From the Nazis, As World War Three Rages in Ukraine, Palestine, and Iran, and the Captured State of Vichy America Is Riven By Tyranny and Resistance, Let Us Liberate All of Humankind From Fascisms of Blood, Faith, and Soil, From Imperial Conquest and Dominion, and From the Bureaucratic Terror of Tyrants and Their Carceral States of Force and Control

May 8 2026 On this Victory Europe Day Celebrating Liberation From the Nazis, As World War Three Rages in Ukraine, Palestine, and Iran, and the Captured State of Vichy America Is Riven By Tyranny and Resistance, Let Us Liberate All of Humankind From Fascisms of Blood, Faith, and Soil, From Imperial Conquest and Dominion, and From the Bureaucratic Terror of Tyrants and Their Carceral States of Force and Control

February 26 2026 How It All Began; World War Three, the Capture of America and the Subversion of Democracy by Traitor Trump and the Fourth Reich, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and the Fall of Civilization

February 26 2026 How It All Began; World War Three, the Capture of America and the Subversion of Democracy by Traitor Trump and the Fourth Reich, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and the Fall of Civilization

https://conflictzone.io/page/how-many-wars-right-now

Live Conflict Map

https://conflictzone.io/?

https://www.warcosts.org/modern-wars

List of wars involving the United States in the 21st century

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States_in_the_21st_century

Operation Southern Spear

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Southern_Spear