You're saying you can't count it as a loss if it is because the leaders screwed up. Huh?
I'm saying a war is when you do everything possible to kill the other side until they see things your way. The US military fought the Viet Nam "police action" with one hand and three fingers tied behind their backs, politicians looking over their shoulders, and strategies designed to win over public opinion. Makes me wonder if there wasn't a Clinton somewhere running the whole damn mess.
The objective of war is the death of the enemy not winning the hearts and minds of your supposed allies.
Besides, we could have won that conflict with the flick of two switches. That we chose not to do so proves that this wasn't a war just a sorry piece of shit shootout that we never intended to fully fight from day one.