Quote:
Originally posted by Cynthetiq
without getting into the morality of it, it Nagasaki and Hiroshima did force the hand of Japan to surrender very quickly.
|
True, but it wouldn't work in this situation. Japan had a central government and a fanatical population who would die for their Emperor. A "shock-and-awe" type demonstration was used because there was a specific person to shock and awe.
From a purely strategic standpoint, that wouldn't work here. There is no central authority (that I know of) governing the insurrection, and individual cells are unlikely to lay down arms just because America uses bigger bombs.
What we need to do is win the hearts of the people. A population that is angry at us will harbor resistance fighters and mask them from our soldiers, making our job harder. This also results in gross acts of stupidy such as the prison abuse incident, which further stoke the civilian population and causes a spiraling cycle that gets worse over time.
I don't know the situation very well beyond what I hear in the news, but I almost feel as if America needs to apologize and open themselves up to the UN. Push for truly international support and oversight. Accept that we made a mess of things, apologize to the international community for being so antagonistic, and request they aid the US in rebuilding Iraq properly.
Once again, I do not see our current administration doing this. In fact, I wonder if there is ANY administration capable of performing such an act.