Originally Posted by Eric5273

And the same could be said for Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938, Poland in 1939, France in 1940, and about two dozen more countries by 1942.

The problem is that unless the population supports the new governments, you will be stuck in an occupation situation forever. The war is over when there is no more fighting. Until that time, nobody has "won". You can declare victory when our soldiers all come home and Iraq is as peaceful as it was in 2002.