&quot;A ground war has barely ever solved a problem in that region.&quot;<p>Sure it has. Ever heard of the Ottoman Empire? Where is it now? What happened to it? What happened to Pharaonic Egypt? The Crusader States? The Achaemenid Empire? Carthage? Troy? Akkadia? Babylonia?<p>Many others could be named; the history of the region is rife with examples of ground wars quite decisively solving problems in the region.