I’m not sure you “don’t get to complain”, but essentially you’re reiterating my point, that I believe General Clark is wrong on this point (obviously with the caveat that I’m a guy with a keyboard and a monitor, but never seen a battlefield).
I’m from a country where we would be able to launch massive manned and unmanned aerial attacks at an enemy country. And yet I still think that we should be careful to avoid such an asymmetrical use of force.
Using aerial attacks as part of a wider strategy, fine. But if the enemy sees absolutely no possibility of winning a war conventionally, as you say “you don’t get to complain”.
It puts success entirely in the hands of the best funded. You can simply simulate the war and arrive at the outcome.
So as a member of the “losing” side, how do you respond? You only have one choice to win: escalate. Escalate to terrorism, NBC weapons, etc.
Both sides have to bleed in a fair-ish fight to keep wars roughly conventional.