[johnb838]

Actually, I would say we underestimated the degree to which the population would remain terrorized by the ex-Saddam forces over a year later. Apparently they had planned to go underground and are really quite organized.

In Vietnam, the population in the country was not really against us. The VC would come in, kill the chief, and tell the villagers they'd better not cooperate with us or they would all die. So we started seeing them as the enemy.

The majority of the Iraqi people are in a similar fix. Hell, they don't want another national socialist junta like the ba'athists ruling. They also don't want the door broken down at 4:00 a.m. followed by death by grenade or automatic weapons fire. I don't blame the people. This war is ours to win and THEN they will help us.

[WOSG]

In some respects we are in a worse situation in Iraq vs Vietnam wrt to the Arab population, since the Arab Muslim culture encourages bigotted attitudes against the West. This is not just saddam, but the whole culture for 50 years has been bred on anti-western propaganda.

Still, we have 90% of Kurds loving us, and most of the them are muslims, so it perhaps is not Islam itself, but the "Islam" defined by the particular clerics that preach it.

I dont think we should be harming prisoners at all. On the contrary, we should be using the most effective brainwashing techniques we can find to "re-educate them".

Start by telling the Jihadists that Muhammed was a Jew. There is proof in the Quran! That'll mess with their mind.

[iconoclast]

Actually, I would say we underestimated the degree to which the population would remain terrorized by the ex-Saddam forces over a year later.

Oh, PUHLEEZE!

[KC_for_Freedom]

This war is ours to win and THEN they will help us.

It appears that we also went in without orders to crush all resistance and accept collateral damage when necessary. Seeking a semi political solution is wrong and if Bush's plan is to reduce casualties until after the election, he will fail because the election is too far away and the Iraqis we are fighting know when the election is too. Unless the present approach makes the enemy careless, I fear we will have some bad consequences to this approach.