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Western culture has supposedly advanced a little from the wholesale raping and pillaging of what happened to those other (long gone) civilizations. Turning countries into glass parking lots is also not an acceptable option.
If you look where we have had the successes in Iraq and and where were the issues, the more successful times have come with a balanced application of necessary firepower and "Hearts & Minds". Take, Hold, & Build. Kill 'em all and let God sort them out hasn't worked. That is a reactionary practice that never works anymore - unless you are a dictator in the Third World. Or Sadam.
I don't think there is a need to go into how much was wrong at the start when they simply did not have enough troops to begin with and most of these problems might have been reduced or never really happened, not to mention the clusterbleep of the "CPA". But taking in context of what is happening now, what IS working is based on Heart & Minds, Respect, & Force.
When people that know what they are talking about like Col McMaster (now BG designate) and Gen Petraeus say that the way forward in Iraq (certainly at least the key component from the military side) is to win Hearts & Minds, I'm inclined to think they are on the right path and that taking a sniper shot at a Quran for target practice undermines that mission in a completely unneeded and effing stupid way.
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