How would a limited strike on the US take us out of the Middle Eastern theatre?
1) We have numerous bases in and around the Middle East.
2) We have carriers, and a Navy
3) We have subs
4) We have space-based weapons (whether we admit it or not)...
5) We have long range bombers
Just how exactly is any other power going to take us out of the Middle Eastern theatre?
As for background, grew up a military brat (and lived in many places, including the Middle East (Saudi Arabia to be specific, though this was in the early 80's, before most could find it on a map, lol...). Initially was going the military route but got sidelined for minor medical issue (that they would take me with, nowadays, but were picky then)... Then was going CIA (nothing glamorous, I was going in for what was then called the FBIS), but the coup in Russia kind of killed our student program. Since then, went more the traditional business route, but always kept my interest up in this kind of thing. Politics, defense, etc. Being exposed to many religions, though raised southern baptist, I studied them, even went to services of most major religions, to understand them.
but 13% of the U.S. population are currently evangelical Christians, and what I outlined is exactly what they believe: that the U.S. will be hit by a limited nuclear exchange, taking them out of the Middle Eastern theatre of operations, and the AntiChrist will arise out of the European Union promising universal peace, racial unity, and a one world government
I'm not so sure they all share that belief (even all of the 13%)....but it's really simple logistics. Waging war with the US is like fighting over 50 small nations, each with the most advanced military hardware on the planet. In addition, the sheer area of the US, a BMDS (Ballistic Missile Defense System), and many other factors make it difficult for most other powers to deliver WMD's here in mass numbers to great effect. Conversely, nations like Russia and China, or those in the Middle East, have but a handful of major targets.