I wrote recently that I didn't think we could be brutal enough for long enough to effectively use the iron fist:
I don't think our people back home would accept the killing of tens of thousands in a short time to brutalize even a uniformly hostile population into submission. Practically speaking, we could not be brutal enough for long enough to make Saddam's method of cowing civilans as he did to the Shias in 1991 work. I think we would make things worse by going back and forth between brutal methods to crush spirits and inducements to win loyalty. We'd just end up being brutal enough to inspire hatred yet generous enough to supply those hostile civilians; but not brutal enough to scare enemies into passivity or generous enough to buy friends.
Well, we are shifting in one Ramadi sector to the good cop mode after bad cop didn't work:
U.S. troops are switching tactics in the fight against insurgents in parts of this rebellious city, replacing confrontation with courtesy in hopes of winning public trust and undercutting support for the militants.
We clearly can't be brutal enough to cow the Sunnis of Ramadi into giving up. I know we can't be nice enough barring outside developments on amnesty talks to get them to stop fighting.
In the end, we are in a holding action until the Iraqi government can devote the troops and police to cracking down hard enough and long enough to make a difference if the Sunnis refuse to come in from the cold.
