Quote Originally Posted by Rank amateur View Post
...The Beirut barracks bombing destroyed very little military equipment, yet lead to a complete withdrawal: like you say, every case is different.
and you left this off your quote of me:

"With the Russians (and there are others) who don't care about casualties, their own or anyone else's, the casualty factor is not a significant issue -- but combat capability has to be one..."

Had you not forgotten that portion of my comment, it might have occurred to you that we and the Russians have quite different idea on casualties. That's a cultural thing. Loss of combat capability is a very practical thing that transcends culture.

The withdrawal from Beirut was an indicator of loss of will. It was one of several US failures that directly contributed to our being in Iraq today. Still, it was not a combat confrontation between opposing armed forces and is not really germane to your point -- or mine.