"Arabs in general are cowards and they will stop fighting once you put enough military pressure on them."
Wasn't that rationale about defeating Saddam and his army?
We defeated Saddam and his army but we were left to fight AL Qaeda and their allies as well as Iran, Syria and their allies in Iraq. Defeating Saddam regime was the first step in defeating terrorism in the Middle East and Iraq became the magnet for all the terrorists to come from all over the world to fight us and for us to kill them. Once we defeat them in Iraq, it is over for them for many decades.