> to much of the world, the U.S. military looks musclebound -
> "strong" in theory but unable to accomplish its goals.
I think maybe you've confused 'military capability' with 'the will to use military power in accomplishing policy objectives' ... the latter, of course, is folly; but I don't think anyone in the world doubts the seriousness of being on the other side of an armed conflict with the US.
Bush said "flatten Baghdad and adjust the way-back machine to the 19th century" ... done-and-done, I reckon.
> There's a lot less awe of its power than a decade ago.
Really? You don't think that a clear message was sent to Saddam-would-bes that if you don't play ball then you will get regime-changed? Or that there's something frighteningly capable in the notion of a Predator taking out a Land Rover in the desert 7000 miles away by a guy sitting in a cubicle near Las Vegas, who then goes home for dinner with his wife and kids? Or that things like the X-37B -- which, along with others like the Airborne Laser, is so far out of our imagination and yet can be tested secretly right in front of everyone -- make the rest of the world consider whether their flint is sharp?
That's not stand-alone can-do power? 40 years ago the idea that the US could park a handful of aircraft carriers off the shore of Vietnam and *then* fight a roughly even-up air battle against home-field-advantaged ground and air forces was a pretty startling concept. Today there's no country in the world willing to take that on. Iran is willing to beat their chest and say: if Israel attacks us, we will render Tel Aviv to rubble; but they are silent on the question about facing the US.
The US military continues to be the only force in the world that can project sustained power anywhere in the world. If you pour jet fuel, food, and political will into that machine, it will crank 24x7 for as long as you ask it to.
And even on a small scale, don't you think people compare, say, the botched Dubrovka theatre raid by FSB Alfa units; and the Navy SEALs rescuing Richard Phillips off the coast of Somalia?
I think what "much of the world" thinks about US military power is: I hope they don't point that fucking thing at me!
/jordan