Prior to the Korean War, the US with the help of it’s allies could win every war thrown at via the use of Carpet Bombing. The carpet bombing targets of today needn’t be civilian targets though there certainly would be collateral civilian deaths, they’d be industrial, transportation, power production, refineries and of course, hard military targets. Waves of B52s loaded to the brim with cluster bombs would do the trick nicely after our stealth force took out the command bunkers, runways, bridges and anti aircraft weapons. No need for “Boots on the ground” just drop your loads and go home. Wait a day for the surrender message then do it again. No nukes or months of talks required, just DO IT!
Ahem. That didn't work on the Japanese at all. It took hard-core ground campaigns to clear every inch of the territory they held. If we hadn't invented the A-Bomb, the Marines would probably still be clearing fanatical resisters out of mountain caves in Hokkaido.
Your larger point is that today we are too concerned with civilian casualties. That may be so, but it's also an early indication that the war under consideration might be of questionable value.