What was the last country to initiate hostilities with the United States?

[Jacobtm]

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in WWII. We had not actually attacked Japan before then.

Has any country actually attacked the United States since then?

I mean to say, has any country initiated hostilities with the United States since then?

[Franzl]

An argument could be made for Afghanistan, at least through indirect support by the Taliban regime.

Other than that, though, I don't think so.

[tpfkaw]

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in WWII. We had not actually attacked Japan before then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Volunteer_Group

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I suppose the Gulf of Tonkin incident, but hasn't that been proven to have been a false flag?

[Silent Hunter]

In answer to your question - no, because of what happened to Germany, Italy and Japan.

In fact, no nation on Earth possesses the effective capability to win a war, conventional or nuclear, against the United States. You are surrounded by allies north and south, with oceans east and west. Cuba and Venezuela lack the effective power to protect force that far and most of the other local states would not be able to effectively defend themselves against an attack.

Expanding your definition to attacks against United States military personnel or assets, one would definitely argue the four attacks or attempted attacks by Libya on US military personnel in the 1980s (i.e. the two Gulf of Sidra shoot-downs, the 1986 naval clash and the Berlin discotheque bombing that led to Operation El Dorado Canyon.

It's worth pointing out that before the 1982 Falklands War, there had never been a direct initial attack by a foreign power on the main territory of the United Kingdom - in fact, you have to probably go back to before it even existed, to 1588. The UK's entry into the two world wars was a result of attacks on allied states, Belgium and Poland respectively (we weren't even really successful in protecting them either).

[Frodo]

None, which is exactly why only suicide bombers take the trouble to do so -they know it is a suicidal mission.  They have nothing to lose.  

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's worth pointing out that before the 1982 Falklands War, there had never been a direct initial attack by a foreign power on the main territory of the United Kingdom - in fact, you have to probably go back to before it even existed, to 1588. The UK's entry into the two world wars was a result of attacks on allied states, Belgium and Poland respectively (we weren't even really successful in protecting them either).

So you are admitting that the War of 1812 was a result of British provocation of the United States  (Or was Canada somehow less of a main territory in 1812 than the Falklands were in 1982?)

As for the OP's question, the last country to declare war on the United States was Thailand on 25 January 1942 if you don't count later declarations by Japanese puppet states established during the War. If you do count those, then the declaration on 22 September 1944 by the Philippines was the last.

[dead0man]

1983 United States Embassy bombing
1983 Beirut barracks bombing
1996 Khobar Towers

[Jacobtm]

1983 United States Embassy bombing
1983 Beirut barracks bombing
1996 Khobar Towers

These were terrorist attacks, by jihadist groups, against Americans and other foreigners on Islamic soil.

We already know that Jihadists think the United States should leave the Holy Land, especially Saudi Arabia, site of the holiest places in Islam. So when symbols of U.S. power are attacked in Saudi Arabia, it shouldn't be surprising. And when our military is attacked in Lebanon during a civil war, that shouldn't surprise us either.

Just the response you should expect to Empire. Sorry if it hurts your feelings, but some people, somewhere, no matter how repressed, will resist when the U.S. rolls into town and tries to run sh**t.

Either way, the point remains that no state, no military, has dared to attack us since Japan.

[Gustaf]

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in WWII. We had not actually attacked Japan before then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Volunteer_Group

" The Flying Tigers did not go into combat until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941."

Do you get masochistic pleasure out of this stuff?

[tpfkaw]

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in WWII. We had not actually attacked Japan before then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Volunteer_Group

" The Flying Tigers did not go into combat until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941."

Do you get masochistic pleasure out of this stuff?

Uh, the "official" date for when they entered combat was moved forward to a couple days after Pearl Harbor.  They actually did some time before then.  But even if we accept the Official Version of Events(tm), nobody can deny that the Roosevelt administration was planning US military attacks on Japanese targets from at latest April of 1941, which is itself an act of war.

[Gustaf]

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in WWII. We had not actually attacked Japan before then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Volunteer_Group

" The Flying Tigers did not go into combat until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941."

Do you get masochistic pleasure out of this stuff?

Uh, the "official" date for when they entered combat was moved forward to a couple days after Pearl Harbor.  They actually did some time before then.  But even if we accept the Official Version of Events(tm), nobody can deny that the Roosevelt administration was planning US military attacks on Japanese targets from at latest April of 1941, which is itself an act of war.

You don't think Japan was planning military attacks on the US before Pearl Harbour?

Anyway, you posted a link, uncommented, as a refutation of the claim that the US had not attacked Japan before Pearl Harbour. The link you posted explicitly agreed with that claim.

Do you see how this makes you look a bit silly?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Israel with the Liberty.

[Silent Hunter]

Either way, the point remains that no state, no military, has dared to attack us since Japan.

What about Libya and the Gulf of Sidra?

[Jacobtm]

Either way, the point remains that no state, no military, has dared to attack us since Japan.

What about Libya and the Gulf of Sidra?

Seems like another case of the U.S. sticking its nose in a hornet's nest and acting shocked when it got stung.

No such incident ever occured on U.S. soil, did it?

[dead0man]

1983 United States Embassy bombing
1983 Beirut barracks bombing
1996 Khobar Towers

These were terrorist attacks,

Which are hostilities.

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Owned and controlled by a specific nation

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Exactly.

[BigSkyBob]

Seizing our embassy in Tehran was, arguably, an act of war.