Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense (foreign military aggression), speaking at the 2010 Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exposition boasts of the enormous naval arsenal at this disposal for intimidating the world:

       The U.s. operates 11 large carriers, all nuclear powered.  In terms of size and striking power, no other country has even one comparable ship.

       The U.s. Navy has 10 large-deck amphibious ships that can operate as sea bases for helicopters and vertical-takeoff jets.  No other navy has more than three, and all of those navies belong to our allies or friends.  Our Navy can carry twice as many aircraft at sea as all the rest of the world combined.

       The U.s. has 57 nuclear-powered attack and cruise missile submarines–again, more than the rest of the world combined.

       Seventy-nine Aegis-equipped combatants carry roughly 8,000 vertical-launch missile cells.  In terms of total missile firepower, the U.s. arguably outmatches the next 20 largest navies.

       All told, the displacement of the U.s. battle fleet–a proxy for overall fleet capabilities–exceeds, by one recent estimate, at least the next 13 navies combined, of which 11 are our allies or partners.

       And, at 202,000 strong, the Marine Corps is the largest military force of its kind in the world and exceeds the size of most world armies.

       Question: With such overwhelming firepower to pacify the world, why has the U.s. been at war more than any other nation in the 65 years since the end of the Axis War (World War II)?

       [added 3/13/2022] Thanks to Freedom’s Phoenix for this entry.