Reply #41: We're not winning in Iraq because the mission isn't winnable using brute force.

[piedmont]

Remaking Iraq as a stable, peaceful democracy isn't going to happen if the people haven't the power or desire to make it happen, and we're certainly not helping that along. The tools of the resistance there (as everywhere) are small arms and IEDs. Those are the sort of weapons we would have problems with if we were to occupy Iran, and I'm sure they have plenty of them. But the weapons in the OP are the kind of weapons that our military is best equipped to handle-- they're big, difficult to maintain, impossible to hide, and laughably obsolete. As with Iraq, the initial fight with the state military would be relatively easy. Staying and occupying, especially with our "small" volunteer army, would be insane. Of course, this should all be moot, since we have no compelling reason to go to war with Iran anyway.