1) People often 'see' war in terms of winning or losing and don't understand what the terms means when viewed from the perspective of tactical vs strategic objectives. The two are not necessarily the same thing. Winning may have a completely different meaning in Washington in the minds of the politicians who got the US into the war. To them, until it lands in their laps in lost votes, deaths and injuries mean little.

2) What began as a 'war' with ill-defined objectives has now become a police action. Quoting a line from MASH: If this is a police action--then referring to Korea--then why didn't they send cops? Asking soldiers to be cops is stupid. They are not. The roles of cops and soldiers are very different.