Is winning a war just impossible to accomplish nowdays?

First off Israel lost the real war over the summer, they did eventually beat back the hezbollah, but all that did was rally support for the radical muslims who proved they could hang with the big dogs. But for the most part your right, at least for this nation. We've become far too concerned with what the rest of the world thinks of us that we'll never really put a country away ever again. Just look at the UN and NATO, we sit and listen to our "allies" dog on us all day long then we go ahead and pick up the tab. We've lost our senses as a country and it starts with each of us as an individual. Where's the nationalism? When did people stop putting "American" at the end of their heritage?! Wars are meant to be fought for land and power, but somewhere we got that wrong; now we give the land back, pay for it to be renovated and give the power back to the people that didn't want us there in the first place. I am an E-5 with the 82nd Airborne and I can tell you first hand that the people in Afghanistan either don't know we exist or simply don't care. There's no government we can replace with democracy, its all tribal systems. As for Iraq, that's just a mess, we don't have the support back here to stay the course and finish the job so the moment we leave, that region will erupt in civil war fueled by Syria and Iran, so all of my friends who gave their lives will have done so in vain.

It is not impossible to win a war where you have standing armies squared off at each other. The First Gulf War was a clear victory for the coalition forces.

In this war on terror, there is no defined target to attack. It is a hit and run process and by it's very definition it is designed to terrorize rather than conquer.

There will never be a clear victory aginst "terror." The best you can hope for is infrequent attacks of a minor nature, but they will continue... even if it is one guy stabbing someone with an ink pen if that is all the weaponry he can find.

g-day!

Winning in a traditional sense is not possible in Iraq, I believe, because it is a different kind of war with a shadowy enemy that does not conform to the days when there were sides, lines, uniformed soldiers on both sides, etc. The closest thing we can hope for is a 'solution' that will be closer to a win than loss, but will still be debated for decades to come.

Winning a war requires destroying the enemy's ability and will to fight. This results in death and destruction that most Western populations don't have to stomach for when its broadcast into their homes 24/7.

In Iraq, only the ability to fight was destroyed. Since the Iraqi Army crumbled like a house of cards, the population didn't truely suffer the ravages of war. Once the Baathists were gone, the desire for sectarian revenge overrode most interest in self-determination. If the US had had to fight meter by meter up to Kirkuk, the Iraqi population might not have been as interested in sectarian violence.

It is impossible to fight a politically correct war. War is truly hell.

Without a clear enemy or clear vision of what victory would be, no, it is impossible to win a war. We already did win the war in Iraq - removing Saddam from power, but now we're there fighting a whole other war...

The corrupt Mexican government in basic terms revenue from the drug wars. If the government had to end the priority it may easily declare conflict on the cartels and end the priority. The management has no satisfaction and reflects no to blame action. They sent some troops and desire that it's going to end the topics. They run from the topics like little females from a spider. until the management stands up and exhibits the potential to realize this no longer something beneficial will happen for the human beings of Mexico. Many greater troops and civilians will die because of fact the government of Mexico would not deliver adequate troops to end the priority. The drug cartels do no longer admire the vulnerable government leaders.

Yeah, I kinda agree. Israel probably has the force to annahilate any terrrorist organization+ any state thats backing them. I feel america's forces are being held back from doing what this idiot commander in charge put them in place to do. We're there already, why not just destroy the place and take over. Instead, were loosing valuable american lives that could really make a change in this **** hole of a world we're living in

You can not win a war in politcally correct manner. The politicains think it is more important to keep their job. And the media hates Liberty, so they only show dead children.

To win a war you must have the will to fight. America no longer has the collective will to fight.

Winning a war and occupation are two different animals, which Bush has never understood. Winning a war only makes sense today, if the majority of the world (UN) is behind you and helps you with the occupation and peacekeeping afterwards.

You can no longer do that in this time and age. Too many people cannot grasp that method of winning anymore.