You mention the endgame. The US's problem is that it never thinks through the exit strategy and endgame. The sort of question like "what does success look like?" is never asked or answered by the Pentagon. All of which means we have had such a series of huge successes following America's lead into wars......look at after 20 years of war, the Taliban on Tuesday banned all education for girls.....Libya a total disaster, the richest African state 20 years ago now a disaster; Syria, the US are actually stealing (it is totally illegal) Syrian oil; Iraq still an unstable success where going to the market may get you killed after 30 years of American war. I could go on and talk about the so called so called successes like Kosovo....once touted as a success and which is now slaughtering ethnic Serbs, provoking a reaction from Serbia....not a single one of these wars had an endgame. How can you win wars when you don't know what your objectives are?