In simple military terms, we waged a war of attrition. First such recorded war was waged by Hannibal at Canae (www.roman-empire.net/army/cannae.html). Even after this battle was won - the war was lost. Samples of more current history suggest that we (the United States) also waged wars of attrition on numerous occasions (only having succeeded by bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki), but we failed very badly using the same principles in Korea and Viet Nam. No war of attrition can be won unless ground forces are deployed and an actual occupation takes place. There was only a partial occupation of former Yugoslavia (the province of Kosovo was ceded to NATO - more accurately USA, where a massive military base (Bondsteel) was stationed.

As a nation we have to accept our losses and learn from them. The above chronological listing suggests that our previous failures resulted in yet another failure (1999 bombing of Yugoslavia), which is not only an immoral act it is also a military failure. This warped thinking lead us directly into Iraq and Afghanistan. We all now how badly those wars are going - with no end in sight.