&gt; Were you implying that the REAL military was defeated in the ME? Or, that they would somehow be unable to put down a guerrilla war?<p>The problem is that despite repeated demonstrations of the contrary, many people (including people who really, really should know better) believe that wars are only decided on the battlefield. The point of going to war is not to engage in set-piece battles and blow up a hapless opponent like Saddam&#x27;s outclassed military live on CNN. The point is to complete a number of strategic objectives. If you didn&#x27;t manage to do that, you lost.<p>If on top of that, you managed to engineer a power vacuum in a very volatile area, which subsequently created the conditions necessary for the emergence of the most powerful militant group to date, you pretty much scored an own goal. Bonus if your PR plan included saying &quot;mission accomplished&quot;.