How to Beat an Enemy That Won’t Admit Defeat

While “unconditional surrender,” which America demanded of the Confederacy in the Civil War and of Germany and Japan in World War II, is an exception in the history of warfare, it was once the case that defeated countries sued for peace and accepted terms imposed by their enemies. But now such outcomes are almost unheard of—especially, as Jonathan Schanzer observers, when combatants are Islamist fanatics who will not admit defeat as a matter of principle. America and Israel are thus at an impasse, as Iran continues to act as if its military and industrial base weren’t demolished. What, then, can the U.S. do?