#any story that starts with 'oh 90% of the population what superpowers and the other 10% are treated like scum'

[arosnowflake]

I really wish I could like BNHA bc Ochako and Deku are both the Actual Best and pretty much every other character also is and the worldbuilding and plot seem like a lot of fun but

I fucking hate Bakugou with every fiber of my fucking being to the point where he ruins all the others for me and I’m still too goddamn salty about Izuku getting a quirk to actually enjoy any of the worldbuilding and/or plot

[chrisoncinema]

The Year in Review: 2017 Honorable Mentions

Originally this post was just going to list my top ten films of the year and provide a brief commentary on the honorable mentions that didn’t make the cut but I got carried away with the latter and wrote way too much. So here’s a holiday surprise: a full summation of my year at the movies for you to enjoy as I work on my top ten list.

2016 Addenda

Silence and Paterson were two 2016 films that I was only able to see in early 2017. Had I been able to view them when they were first released, both would have made my 2016 top ten list (which never got a proper post but is accessible via my twitter) and both would have vied for spots in my top three. I highly recommend that everyone watch both films. They are both challenging films in their own ways. Silence is emotionally exhausting; moments of shocking brutality and quiet delicacy abound. It’s an examination of faith worth mulling over regardless of your worldview or philosophy because, in the end, faith is an emanation of our basic humanity. Paterson is similar to Silence in its singular voice and vision. It is meandering, seemingly plotless, and deceptively simple, but sometimes one has to walk slowly in order to see clearly.

Films I Missed

As seen above, every year there are a number of films I am unable to see because I didn’t have time or it wasn’t playing in Michigan or I didn’t have the press credentials to get into a screening. This year, the most disappointing miss was Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Threadwhich, apparently, didn’t make it to my local art theater. I’ve loved Anderson’s last three films (and enjoy his entire filmography, in varying degrees) and believe Phantom Thread would have made it onto my top ten list this year, had I been able to see it. Other films I missed this year, in no particular order, include: A Quiet Passion, The Post, Menashe, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, I Tonya, Menashe, Graduation, Manifesto, Dawson City: Frozen Time, Call My By Your Name, and The Square.

Honorable and Dishonorable Mentions

Despite missing a lot, I saw more films this year than I have in a long time. This meant that my top ten list was an enjoyable challenge and that a number of films, for a variety of reasons, didn’t make the cut. These are their stories…

Lemon was the worst movie that I saw this year – or, at the very least, it was the movie I disliked the most that I watched all the way through nonetheless. The anti-comedy antihero that Tim Heidecker played to cringey perfection in the weird and wonderful The Comedy should be hereby retired with Brett Gelman’s new film. I think Brett Gelman is a very funny comedian and his wife, Janicza Bravo, who directed Lemon has a unique enough directorial voice but, in a year of terrible men, we didn’t need this one. In a year of interesting commentary on race, we didn’t need this half-hearted, cynical, frustrating attempt.

Lemon

I swore off comic book movies years ago and have only watched DC movies out of morbid, masochistic curiosity (I did not see Wonder Woman or Justice League, for the record, and don’t plan on ever watching them). That said, the first superhero movie to pique my interest in years was Logan. I hadn’t seen an X-Men movie since First Class, which I found rather pointless, but, as a childhood fan of the X-Men comics, something about Logan seemed different. And indeed it was.

Logan works incredibly well as a neo-Western road movie that happens to feature mutated humans with superpowers. Hugh Jackman is probably the best actor to ever lead a comic book movie and here he finally has a movie that is worth his time. The three leads that form a quasi-familial unit in the form of Patrick Stewart, Jackman, and young breakout Dafne Keen, all perform incredibly well together and individually. The movie falters when it tries to introduce its villains and an action-y plotline. The dude with the Anakin Skywalker hand was sufficient, the evil doctor guy played by Richard E. Grant was introduced too late to matter, and the robo-Wolverine or whatever he was called was just kind of awkward and weird and dumb. Still, I was genuinely moved by the end of this movie – brought closer to tears by this movie than any comic book movie I’ve watched. It’s not a great film, but it’s a very good comic book movie. Count it among the few classics.

Another movie that I was surprisingly moved by was Okja. I felt like I had this film’s number from the start. Not that predictability is inherently negative, I just didn’t think I’d get that much out of it. But this movie is incredibly well-crafted. The performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton are so over the top that they actually work as caricatures of evil people. This movie feels like a live-action anime. It has the energy, the flow, and the colorful cast of characters. The message is simple and perhaps a bit obvious but it works. And while I will continue blaming it on the severe cold I had while watching the film, I did get choked up at the end. Also, Paul Dano continues to be a tragically underrated performer who needs to be cast in way more projects.

Okja

Okja was very good at world-building and, unsurprisingly, Blade Runner 2049 was great at it. I was wary of this film going in and didn’t even know if I’d ever watch it – tired as I am of reboots and unnecessary sequels. Much to my surprise, though, I was captivated by this movie when it was simply following Ryan Gosling’s K through his detective work and personal life. His relationship with his holographic girlfriend is as weird and sweet and inventive as Her. Denis Villeneuve is a director I’ve written about beforewhose work I enjoy – Arrival remains his best film. Roger Deakins, as widely reported, does great work as he always does in this film. Unfortunately, 2049decided to be a legacy act. The second half of the movie is bogged down in a plot that ties the film in with the original completely unnecessarily.

2049 falls apart when it dredges up old Harry Ford in his all-too-ordinary gray t-shirt. Is he playing Rick Deckard or is he someone’s aging stepdad? Credit where it’s due: Harrison Ford performs dutifully and effectively in this movie but 1: I can’t watch Harrison Ford in a movie anymore without it completely taking me out of the narrative (Oh look, it’s ancient curmudgeon Harrison Ford. Remember Indiana Jones?) and, more importantly, 2: there was no reason why this film needed to bring him back. As I said, there were so many interesting directions this film could have gone but, like The Force Awakens, it grinds to a halt so we can see Harrison Ford react to stuff related to a movie he was in a hundred years ago. Also, Jared Leto is a scenery-chewing nuisance who should not be cast in anything ever. My suggestion: if you didn’t see this movie in IMAX, just wait and watch the 90 minute version I’ll inevitably make in 2018.

And while Blade Runner and Star Wars provided science fiction fodder for franchise devotees, horror fans were treated to a vast array of unique offerings. A horror/drama that got a little over-hyped for me was Raw. As with most gross-out horror films, there were early reports of people passing out and throwing up in screenings. With that in mind, I prepared myself for something truly shocking and was, honestly, somewhat disappointed. The story centers on a college freshman who discovers she has a hunger for human flesh. It’s a fun film if you’re a fan of body horror but even so the scenes get rather formulaic. There’s some great, atmospheric stuff in this movie, including some solid cinematography, but the moments when something gross is about to happen are never a surprise. Raw's great failure is its ending which ties such a deliciously messy story together too neatly.

Raw

Another horror film that could be accused of receiving too much early hype was, of course, mother! This movie is incredibly effective as a comedy of manners. Darren Aronofsky does an amazing job of capturing the panic and confusion of actual nightmares where you know the people populating your dream should be able to hear and understand you but their blank, unresponsive stares simply add to the horror. I had no idea what mother!was actually about or where it was going while I watched it and I found myself disappointed in myself once I realized. The thing is, though, even when the film’s narrative fully commits to its pedestrian eschatology, it’s still churning out moments that are absolutely bonkers. The ways mother! doesn’t work might be more interesting than the ways it does (Javier Bardem and Michelle Pfeiffer are particularly effective; Jennifer Lawrence remains an amateurish performer) but…I kind of loved this film in all of its sadistic, messy glory.  

I really wanted mother! to make it into my top ten list simply because it felt so different. That is, until I saw another film about the dismantling of domesticity: The Killing of a Sacred Deer. I should state for the record that I was not a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos’s last film The Lobster. That film always felt a bit obvious and stunted to me – though I’m a big fan of both Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. Sacred Deer is a similar beast. The deadpan, monotone dialogue takes a lot of getting used to and I’m sure it’ll be a sticking point for a lot of viewers. It remains an interesting and puzzling choice by Lanthimos who seems to want to strip his films of melodramatic artifice while writing screenplays that contain the drama of Greek tragedies. 

Sacred Deer is a film that knows it’s weird, knows you think it’s weird, but also knows it’s weirdness is making you feel weird. If you can let yourself get into it, this is a pretty rewarding film reminiscent of The Shining (I know this is blasphemy but I actually like it more). Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman both give incredibly performances with what is surely challenging material to work with. The film’s real star, though, is Dunkirk breakout Barry Keoghan. As his character grows more strange and sinister, he somehow becomes even more magnetic. Regardless of what you think of the movie, Keoghan is one of the best performers of the year.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Of course, one cannot discuss the year’s horror films without mentioning Get Out. I have to admit I had trouble with this film for a number of months. I really struggled to see what everyone else was seeing in it. That is, until I watched Detroit. Both films are ostensibly horror flicks where the great evil is white power. Kathryn Bigelow’s film posits itself as a visceral work of journalism but beneath that facade, it’s clear she has nothing to say. Her camera is in a constant Paul Greengrass-esque tremor whether it’s a tense moment or not. Detroitis false immediacy. Detroit is torture porn. Get Out, on the other hand, has a voice and it came to make a statement. Get Out, like They Liveor Night of the Living Dead before it, is not high art. It is, for better or worse, a reaction to the sociopolitical milieu that surrounds it. Hopefully it will soon be considered the first of innumerable, blockbuster works by filmmakers of color that invades the cultural consciousness. For now, Get Out is a film that manages to be both scary and funny thanks to Jordan Peele’s vision and direction.

Logan Lucky and Baby Driver were two films by directors whose work I enjoy and admire immensely that just didn’t quite bring enough to the table to make it into a top ten list. Both films are self-assured, fun, and full of magnetic characters (save for the titular Baby) but they also seem to be exercises in style over substance. Still, I’d recommend both films in a heartbeat.

Another film that comes highly recommended by yours truly that seems to have been completely forgotten is The Red Turtle: an animated, nearly-wordless folk tale about nature, love, and letting go. The Red Turtle is refreshingly simple and unassuming – I’ve heard it described as a children’s film and, while a patient child may be able to sit through it, there’s a depth and maturity to the story that will speak to anyone who would stop to listen. Come for the animation, stay for the beautiful score and sound design.

The Red Turtle

Speaking of design, a couple films that look incredibly good are A Ghost Story and The Beguiled. Both films held spots in my top ten list but were knocked out. I really wanted to love A Ghost Story – I felt like I was really giving it my all – but about two thirds of the way through the film, it starts to preach about what it is and some of the mystery and nuance is lost. Visually, it remains one of the most interesting films of the year, but the story remains half-baked. The same could be said for Sofia Coppola’s new film. It features some of the best cinematography of the year and incredible performances from everyone involved. The aforementioned Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman give it their all; Kirsten Dunst is strong as ever; and Elle Fanning continues to prove she is one of the great young actors working today. The film’s only real fault is its table manners. Reserved and cautious, when the film finally boils over, the room has already chilled.

I also saw The Florida Project this year. I have very little to say about it, apparently. As I’ve been putting it off through this whole post. I thought it was…fine. It’s good, not great. Willem Dafoe is very good in it. If you want to know how I feel about the ending, I’m in the camp that thought it completely undercut the emotional depth and complexity that the film was just about to reach.

So there you have it – my year at the movies, save for my upcoming top ten films of the year. As I said above, many of these films could have, or perhaps should have, been in my top ten list. And if you were to ask me in a few months, some of them might return. As these things go, art is subjective and fluid, but I’m very excited to share the films that I found the most engrossing and moving this year. Some will be obvious, but hopefully some will be new discoveries for you. Come back New Year’s Eve to find out!

[itsiotrecords-blog]

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For most, even those of us who spent our childhoods growing up in the shadow of 9/11 and “The War on Terror,” when we think about huge military operations, we still think about conflicts like World War Two, World War One, and maybe even The Gulf War — you know — wars that saw countries draft countless millions of soldiers into their ranks and saw millions of those same soldiers die fighting around the globe. We usually don’t think of the 21st century as a time when really massive troop operations have been commonplace. Even though we watched the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unfold on our tablets and TV screen as the events streamed live the entire time, we thought of them as “Soldiers’ Wars:” small, personal, deadly conflicts between various special forces and an unseen enemy. Then there are our perceptions of cost in running a military operation or project. Even if you weren’t alive in the ’80s or early ’90s and even if you don’t pay much attention to the military and what it does (or doesn’t, as the case may be) accomplish, you’ve probably heard the stories of the Air Force ordering $500 screwdrivers or the cost of a “Star Wars” missile defense plan running into the tens of trillions. We’re talking numbers so big you can’t even fathom them. But guess what, folks; just because we haven’t been involved in a global war the likes of the Second World War, our military has still been running giant operations and fantastically expensive projects these last 16 years since the towers went down. Here are 15 of those operations and the costly weapons we have used to support them.

#1 2014-Present: ISIL War Here’s a military operation that I included because I get the sense that our total investment in time, money, manpower, and materials is only going to rise over the ensuing decades. I’m talking about the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) war that’s been going on in Iraq, Syria, etc. for the past few years. And, of course, their terror attacks around the world. ISIL rose out of the ashes of the Iraq insurgency around 2012 and then the Syrian civil war and has been a thorn in the West’s side since. In 2014, President Obama ordered U.S. troops to participate with coalition forces in taking out ISIL. Thus far, we’ve sent 4,100 soldiers to Iraq for this purpose, another 2,100 to Kuwait, and over 500 soldiers as trainers for the Iraqi army. The carrier group led by the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt (remember those Nimitz Class carriers?) is also involved and counts the carrier, a cruiser, two destroyers, and other ships in its complement. The carrier alone has 3,200 sailors, 2,400 airmen, and carries upwards of 80 airplanes and helicopters. I could go on, but you get the point.

#2 2013: North Korean Crisis The North Koreans always seem to be at it, don’t they? If they’re not threatening to pour down a “grey rain” of missiles on the world (well, in particular, on The U.S. and South Korea, maybe Japan if they’re lucky) then they’re pouting silently in the corner, plotting against everyone who ignores them. I think President Clinton said it best when he said they were like a spoiled child who got antsy if he didn’t get your attention every now and then. In 2013, they certainly got everyone’s attention with the posturing about their nuclear program, setting off an underground nuclear test in February of that year and threatening the “final destruction” of South Korea a few days later. This caused the U.S. to increase the number of anti-ballistic missiles based in Alaska to 44 (up from 30). We also flew two B-2A Stealth Bombers nonstop to Korea, dumped practice payloads of explosives on the ground there (to prove to North Korea we could do it to them whenever we wanted), and moved stealth aircraft to South Korean bases. This might not seem like a huge operation, but consider that each missile is worth tens of millions of dollars and the cost of a B-2 Stealth Bomber is… well, keep reading.

#3 F-35 Lightning II – $400 Million! Each! Speaking of expensive military aircraft, here’s a neat little plane we like to call the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. This is the single-engine, single-seat fighter plane that was going to make the whole U.S. Air Force and the air arms of the Navy and Marines go completely stealth, beginning back in 2001. The U.S. military signed on to purchase 2,500 of these babies at the paltry cost of $400 million. Oh, wait… I forgot to mention that’s $400 million each. However, reports did surface in 2013 that the plane’s price tag for the Pentagon had dropped to only about $160 million, depending on whom you believe, of course. In the long run, it’s entirely possible that nobody knows just how much each one of these puppies costs to manufacture, let alone keep in the air, but it’s easy enough to see they aren’t cheap.

#4 Ohio Class Submarines – $2 BILLION Per Sub!!! No, they’re not the biggest nuclear submarines in the world, but they’re the best — at least, that’s what the U.S. Navy would have us believe about the General Dynamics Ohio Class Ballistic missile boat. Russians actually have two classes of subs that are bigger than our Ohio class ones, but ours carry a lot more nuclear missiles. We also haven’t lost any of them. OK, OK, that was low. The Ohios can carry 24 nuclear missiles each, which, when you think about it, are a lot of nuclear missiles. Perhaps too many, but what do I know? They weren’t cheap, though. They began to patrol our waters (and others’ waters) way back in 1981 at the cost of $2 billion per sub. But they only cost about $50 million a year to maintain and operate! The best part is, nuclear-powered ships last forever, so the $4 billion price tag for replacement doesn’t need to be spent just yet…

#5 V-22 Osprey – $50 Million Per Aircraft (Has A Rolls Royce Engine) Speaking of those pesky Marines again… We’ve already seen some of the cool toys the Navy has received in the last few decades that they still use to this day. We read about the Air Force’s awesome new jet fighter. But how about those Marines? Don’t they deserve a neat, new toy, too? Of course they do, which is where the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey comes into the fray. I bet you noticed the name of this baby, too, didn’t you? That’s right. Bell helicopters and Boeing aircraft, the big dogs in their respective fields, especially when it comes to military contracts, teamed up to give the Marines a special treat. There’s no doubt the Osprey is a very cool, tilt-rotor aircraft (that means it can use a landing strip like a plane or liftoff like a helicopter) that can be used for lots of different types of missions. It also costs between $50-70 million per aircraft. So far, over 150 of them have been made since 2007. But hey, at least it’s got a Rolls Royce engine!

#6 Ballistic Missile Defense System – $120 Billion For Research And Development And finally, we have quite possibly the most expensive military project ever. Or it will be, if it ever really gets off the ground (get it? “Ballistic Missiles?” “Off the ground?” No?? OK.) This is the original “Star Wars” nuclear missile defense net originally envisioned by President Reagan. Unfortunately, the project has gone through tons of iterations over the years, and many parties even think we should scrap it, given that it’s unlikely Islamic militants are going to rain hundreds of ICBMs down upon us, as we always thought those old Soviets would try to do. This might be a smart idea because for a defense network that doesn’t really exist in coherent fashion, we’ve sunk at least $120 billion into research and development. But does it work, you want to know? Well, who knows? We have lots of planes, lots of radars, and lots of missiles pointed into the sky but very little sense of where an attack might come from or how. So we’ve got that going for us. That and the ongoing price tag.

#7 2006 Lebanon Evacuation One of the fun parts of being the only global Superpower, as the U.S. is nowadays, is having a civilian population that’s wealthy enough and invested enough in other countries to travel to them and even live abroad. The U.S. has a significant minority of its citizens living in other lands helping to run our corporate interests, our humanitarian efforts, our educational exchanges, and, of course, our embassies, consulates, and other governmental programs. In 2006, as Lebanon was sinking into the war between the Israelis and the militant Islamic group Hezbollah, President Bush called upon the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit to travel to Lebanon and evacuate U.S. citizens who were trapped in the violence-torn country. This air-ground task force, which is used for quick responses to emergency situations, deployed its 2,200 members to save U.S. citizens. It was supported by the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, a Marine assault ship, which carried an additional 1,800 Marines and 1,100 sailors and their officers.

#8 Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier The aforementioned Iwo Jima might be a pretty impressive ship, but it has nothing on the Nimitz Class carriers. The Navy first started building these bad boys in 1975, but they’re on this list because all ten of them (yup- only 10 were built) are still in very active service. That’s because they each have two nuclear reactors powering them and are expected to be in commission for an average of 60-75 years each. Hmm, I wonder how much it cost to build these guys? Well, reports put each ship at between $4.5 and $6.2 billion. Remember, there are 10 of them. Wait, what’s that, you say? They need to be retooled about 30-40 years into their service life? Well, that’s only about $2.5 billion each to get them out of the shop and running again. Oh, and they have a crew complement of nearly 6,000 sailors? It can’t possibly cost very much to feed 6,000 sailors for 75 years, can it? Or, you know, pay for their cannonballs and such. Wow.

#9 2010-Present: Al-Qaeda Drone Strikes (Yemen) & Taliban Drone Strikes (Pakistan) I’ve written in this space before about the crazy drone war that President Bush, the Younger, started and that President Obama expanded upon and President Trump continues. It’s actually pretty unbelievable how big the scope of this ongoing operation has become and how many resources our military and Defense Department have thrown at it just to take out Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), basically militant by militant. For those of you not in the know, AQAP basically operates out of Yemen, and in the past 15 years, the U.S. military has launched anywhere from 100 to 150 drone strikes in various parts of that country. That doesn’t even begin to take into account the drone strikes in Pakistan against Taliban militants, a tactic begun by President Bush, who ordered 59 such attacks during his years in office, and something President Obama continued to the end of his administration. For your edification, each “Reaper Drone,” which is the type often used for these strikes, costs just under $13 million to manufacture.

#10 2011: Operation Odyssey Dawn (Libya) A few years ago, Libya, that “African but Middle Eastern in spirit” bastion of lunacy under Muammar Gaddafi for so many years, started to come apart at the seams politically during the Libyan Civil War between factions loyal to and organized against Gaddafi’s continued rule. As the war threatened to spiral out of control (and as Gaddafi supporters threatened vengeance against pretty much everyone), the United Nations Security Council drew up a resolution to enforce a “No-Fly Zone” for government forces trying to attack the revolutionaries. This was implemented on March 19, 2011, when French, U.K, and U.S. forces launched air sorties from fighter jets, then lobbed over 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles into the zone from submarines and surface ships. By the end of the month, the U.N. coalition had achieved its aim (pun very much intended). U.S. troop involvement alone amounted to: the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (2,400 Marines), The U.S.S Mount Whitney (400 personnel), two amphibious assault ships with over 1,600 sailors and soldiers, multiple other Navy surface vessels, three nuclear submarines, and over 75 bombers, fighters, and attack helicopters from the Air Force and Marines.

#11 B-2 Spirit – Each Cost Over $730 Million! The Northup Grumman B-2 Spirit is the original stealth bomber, the one you see doing flyovers at Super Bowls. These were first produced in 1987, but they were still making them by 2000, and all of those manufactured are still in use by the Air Force. There are 21 of these awesome bombers in the U.S. military’s arsenal — they’re the only stealth-capable planes in the world that are also able to carry nuclear weapons. Or they can just fly low and undetected under everybody’s radar and bomb wherever they want with 800 lb. conventional bombs, which is exactly what they did during that practice exercise to scare the North Koreans. The best part about the aircraft though has to be the cost. Each bomber costs only $737 million. That’s “flyaway” cost, of course, which I assume is just like asking a car dealer for his “out-the-door” price.

#12 Independence Class “Littoral” Frigates – $700 Million For The First One Ever Built Then there are these guys: “littoral” ships that were specifically designed to fight the threat of terrorism, insurgency, and local civil wars in the 21st century. The Austal USA Independence Class Littoral Frigates (“Littoral” means the shore) are designed to get close to land and get small, elite numbers of troops, planes, tanks, and equipment into the fight fast. They’re also designed with a whopping price tag of $704 million for the first one ever built and over $350 million for each succeeding one. We currently have four ships active with seven more being built and two yet to be started. They only carry a crew of 40, but they can turn your world upside down with their combat power. They began production on these ships in 2010 and are going full speed ahead (as the saying goes) to complete all of them. Oh yeah… they also have a big-ass Navy helicopter and two small unmanned choppers attached to each ship.

#13 2001-14 Operation Enduring Freedom (Largest Op Since 2000) On October 7, 2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, and Operation Enduring Freedom began. Its goal was to utterly defeat the Taliban, bring Afghanistan back into the family of nations as a legitimate government and country and, oh yeah… hunt down and kill Osama bin-Laden. While it’s debatable whether the first two items can really be checked off, at least we finally got bin-Laden. Years later. In Pakistan. But I digress. Enduring Freedom is one of the biggest operations of the 21st century by a wide margin. Probably all anyone needs to know about how big this war has been for the 21st century is that, since 2014, the U.S. has only maintained about 10,000 ground troops (not including Navy and Air Force support) in that country. Only. We once had upwards of 60,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan way back in 2009. I wouldn’t be surprised if we did again before 2019.

#14 2010-11: Operation New Dawn This one is another in the never-ending saga of U.S. troop involvement in Iraq. Here’s the thing with fighting insurgencies, militants, and terrorists: when push comes to shove, it’s almost impossible to pin down an insurgency. After the U.S. had declared “victory” in 2010 in the Iraq War, we began a troop drawdown in Iraq. That led the way to militants increasing their use of IEDs and other asymmetrical weaponry to harm non-combatant U.S. contractors, government, and other support personnel. This, of course, led to the U.S. increasing the presence of our Advise & Assist Brigades. These brigades managed to total about 50,000 American troops — at a time when we said we were removing all combat soldiers from Iraq and ending all combat operations. There you go, Operation New Dawn! Way to get everyone out of the country! In 2010 alone, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 25th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army were both deployed to Iraq while we supposedly left Iraq. That’s a lot of soldiers pretending to be policemen.

#15 2003-11: Operation Iraqi Freedom Before Operation New Dawn was ever a thing, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or as we civilians know it as, “The Iraqi War,” saw a massive buildup of U.S., military presence in Iraq. This makes sense as we had started a huge coalition-based war against Saddam Hussein’s regime in hopes of finding both his weapons of mass destruction and ties to militant Islam. Which we did not, Saddam always having been more concerned about himself than some terroristic Jihad. In any case, the U.S. entered the war in 2003 with more than 190,000 ground troops — a huge buildup of military force for a 21st century conflict. Between 2004-2009, when the “drawdown” of U.S. troops began, we were still maintaining well over 100,000 troops in-country. This doesn’t include our Air Force, Navy, or support numbers of course. I’m not sure if we secured any kind of freedom for any Iraqi, but it sure wasn’t from a lack of trying.

Source: TheRichest