MISTAKES GEORGE BUSH DIDN'T MAKE IN IRAQ (a good read)
A snippet:

A real war is not a hollywood war, there is no script, and no real war in history has gone predictably and ended on schedule and on budget. In most wars, the ending is uncertain and unknowable until you get almost to the end, and depends on a multitude of factors, including (but not limited to): (a) Who has the better weapons systems, (b) Who has the better manufacturing capacity and the most reliable supply tail, (c) Who has the better officers and soldiers, (d) Who has the better intelligence, (e) Who has the better strategic and tactical planning and adaptation skills, (f) Who makes the most mistakes, and the most serious mistakes, and most important of all, (g) Who has the greatest will to endure and win.

The chorus of pundits and pontificators who decry the "many mistakes" and the "lack of a plan" cannot have ever learned to play chess, or poker, not even badly, nor studied war, however superficially, or they would understand that one's planning goes out the window as soon as the enemy makes his first move, fires his first shot, and then one must begin adapting to the adaptable enemy. And with every adaptation we make, the enemy makes new adaptations. Then we have to adapt again. Victory goes to the most adroit, to those most adept at changing tactics and strategy quickly and often, and to have a "plan" that is set in stone and stickin' to it is a sure-fire recipe for defeat.

Wars end when one side has been battered and mauled so badly that it no longer has the will and ability to keep fighting, and gives up, and either surrenders or fades away.