Some more interesting examples, Wolfgang:

Geronimo and other Apache leaders stayed the course when resisting American invasion of their ancestral lands. They were resisting foreign invasion and they were fighting for a valid reason. Eventually, however, it was no longer possible to bring their defence effort to a successful conclusion. They were too outnumbered. There comes a point when it is simply stupid and futile to stay the course any longer.

Accordingly, Geronimo finally surrendered.

What one has to do at the end of the day is this: face reality.

Each situation is unique, and each situation must be dealt with on the basis of its particular conditions.

I think the US war in Iraq fails to satisfy any reasonable rationale, and therefore is unsupportable. I think it was launched for irrational emotional reasons (revenge for 911 and other things), irrational notions of establishing "security" for the American homeland (it has not done that and will not do that), greed for oil, and other unjustifiable motives.