So my thinking is aggresive and stupid you say?
I’d rather we weren’t in this war to win hearts and minds.
We should be at war for one reason, to win it with the least possible casualties on our part. War is hell, let the other guy die for his country and his beliefs, not ours.
War is for killing enemies. If you want to win hearts and minds set a tea table. Kumbaya and all that.
Let’s see we won Germany and Japans hearts and minds by beating them into submission. Quickest way to do it.
We tried winning hearts and minds in Vietnam, didn’t work, took a very long time and huge losses in terms of dwindling away our troops lives while playing pussyfoot with the commies.
You say my type of aggressive thinking is the kind that “got us in a mess in Iraq”? Ha. Hello...We aggressively attacked and then stopped to win hearts and minds and look at it. Are we done yet? The mess was caused by your way of thinking not mine.
Advice for you, learn military history and then come on back and tell me how winning hearts and minds was ever achieved. Details please.
If your way worked, the Russians would have won Afghanistan. We’re using classic counter-insurgency tactics. It works. It worked when tried in Vietnam, too - but it was tried too little and too late.
Admittedly, a few nukes and Iraq would have been an easier problem to solve...but that isn’t the way Americans do business. We are as much in a war of ideas as a war of blood, and we’re winning it.