The “war” itself was a huge success. The rebuilding mire after not so much.
It should be noted that in World War One the allies took that many casualties in hours. The Vietnam total in not more than two days.
I don’t understand your logic. War is not fought for the sake of war. Saying the war itself was a success without regard to whether we’re better or worse off having fought it is as if my construction company built a house that collapsed on its residents, and I responded with, “Well, the building part was successful. We got it up there. Whether or not it crushed a family to death down the road is another matter.”
It should be noted that electing Dinkens as mayor of New York City cost more lives than that. heck, The difference between Dinkins and Giuliani was more than that.