"You can use brute force to kill terrorists or insurgents, but at some time you need acquiescence and compliance from the population, or every time you kill an insurgent or terrorist, he will be replaced."

The study's war model claims to be accurate in 80 per cent of the conflicts. Ominously, and despite some gains in Anbar province, the current U.S. mission in Iraq has a probability of success of just 20 per cent. (Vietnam, by comparison, had a 22 per cent chance of success.)

There are obvious similarities between Iraq and Afghanistan – an enduring insurgency, an unstable "democratic" government.

True- military might does not always win. That's where overthrowing governments from within does.

That would still require military force, would it not, or at least compliance from the military/security forces of that country. And more problems have been created by toppling existing governments by force or revolution than have been solved.