Regarding the subject of fighting wars I have, for many , many years, taken to heart the principals stated by Michael Howard in "The Causes of War - ISBN 0-04-940073-8, 1983, paper "The Forgotten Dimensions of War".
In this he starts by talking about the 4 dimensions taken into account when fighting a war: the Operational, the Logistical, the Technological and the Social.
The first 3 are those dictated and enforced by the capabilities of industry and the armed forces. The last relates to social cohesion and the willingness of a society to bear the price. The point being that all 4 are essential requirements to win any war.
Depending on the war and how it is sold - and I accept that propaganda always plays a major role in dehumanising the enemy - the last is vital. Howard gives the example of the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, but equally to Vietnam.
he makes the point that, quote:
"Military thinkers in the West, extrapolating from their experience of warfare between industrial states, naturally tended to seek a solution to what was essentially a conflict on the social plane either by developing operational techniques of "counter-insurgency" or in the technological advantages provided by such developments as helicopters, sensors or "smart" bombs. When these techniques failed to produce victory, military leaders, both French and American, complained, as had the German military leaders in 1918, that the war had been "won" militarily but "lost" politically - as if these dimensions were not totally interdependent."
I fear that those in positions of power are not readers in military history of the last 100 years, or very poor scholars, and having not learnt the lessons of the past, are on the well trodden path to repeat it.