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[gillan]

So, whenever a war-related holiday, of which the US has several, comes around, family members of mine begin making Facebook posts about honoring soldiers for fighting for our freedom. So, this is not an internet argument bait question - I probably won't be responding to comments at all - what was the last military action the United States took that

Comments

[azurecobalt]

Taking out Osama?

~R

[anastasis]

You mean how after they did that, Obama and friends abolished the PATRIOT act, dismantled the TSA, ended the 2.5 wars and gave a speech publicly reaffirming their commitment to the Fourth Amendment? Because it was awesome when that happened.

[anastasis]

Try hearing it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Of course with military people and families you can at least blame it on a psychological coping mechanism where we have to believe we're doing some epic good to get through the day. Normal people on the street though? No excuse.

[treacerbullet]

Killing bin Laden.

Though, strictly speaking, I'm not 100% against all our actions in Libya either - to the extent that we're really just playing a supporting role for NATO.

[opticalbinary]

Bin Laden, and more broadly the war in Afghanistan, when it wasn't being horribly handled.

[gillan]

I just realized it's probably a bit shitty to ask for opinions without offering mine. I think the last military action that increased our freedom was the American Civil War.

[opticalbinary]

Increased, definitely. My answer was more "protected and ensured."

[gillan]

I think the Civil War is the last one that did those too.

[shaelbopp]

I was going to say that, but then I thought that maybe we could have had a much longer, uglier war down the line if we hadn't intervened in World War 2. Maybe not, though. The American Civil War is the last military action that I'd say certainly increased our freedom, though I think we'd be a better nation today if we'd reached a non-violent means of independence from Britain, like Canada did.