Did U.S. Fail at Iwo Jima and Okinawa?

12,000 United States Marines dead and 36,000 wounded along with over
40,000 civilians killed from just one battle-The Battle of Okinawa.
1 And the Battle
of Iwo Jima resulted in another 7,000 killed soldiers approximately2. Throughout
the Pacific War there were many battles fought between the United States of
America and the Japanese however no battle had accrued such a large
amount as that in the Battle of Okinawa. In actuality it is considered the single
largest death toll in one battle during the Pacific War. The U.S. death toll was
more at Okinawa than at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima combined. According to
historians, such as John Costello, Both of these Japanese islands were seen as
successes and important for the United States in the military takeover of the
Japanese home islands as “intermediate jump-off points”3 to Japan's
homeland. However, it was at the cost of thousands of lives from American
soldiers