Good shots are nice to have, but there are usually plenty of them on both sides of a war or a battle.

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, for example, was probably the finest fighter pilot in the entire Pacific theatre in World War II, and shot down about 90 to 100 American pilots who were often flying superior planes to his own...but it didn't win the Japanese the war. The Americans had the greater numbers, the more modern equipment (after '42), and lots of good pilots of their own.

Nishizawa finally died helplessly in a transport plane which was jumped on by US Navy Hellcats while transferring him and other pilots to a new airfield. He had had an intimation of death only days before, and told his friends that he did not expect to live long. He swore once that no American could ever shoot him down when he was at the controls of a fighter plane, and as fate would have it, that turned out to be the case.

One place where good shots do win the battle is in a duel. Otherwise, it's mostly the big battalions that win battles, unless they're very badly commanded.

As for Iraq, a successful military occupation of an invaded land is a far more trying task then winning on the conventional battlefield, and is fraught with longterm risks for the occupiers. Ask the Russians about Afghanistan.

That Voltair quote is a gem!

- LH