U.S. military leaders failed to force their enemy to fight.

Evidence

To make attrition work in his favor, a military leader must be able to force his enemy to fight, as Grant could force Lee to fight when he had Lee locked into a defense of the Confederate capital of Richmond in the last year of the Civil War and as the American and British armies could make Hitler’s Wehrmacht do after the landing at Normandy in 1944. … Thayer’s findings proved that Westmoreland was unable to force his enemy to fight, because the Vietnamese had an overwhelming grasp of the initiative. — Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1991

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1991
• XREF: connects to: America’s military has no preordained right to victory on the battlefield. — Jim Mattis Fires a Clear Warning Shot; A N.A.T.O.-style conventional army was unfit for the ambivalent task of pacification; A militarily victorious counterinsurgency can still lose due to non-battlefield factors

Broader Connections

• A N.A.T.O.-style conventional army was unfit for the ambivalent task of pacification #expands (0.70)
• A militarily victorious counterinsurgency can still lose due to non-battlefield factors #qualifies (0.50)