What's more important to defeating an insurgency?

Question

-Winning Hearts & Minds of the civilian population or

-Trying to kill a few 1000 insurgents/terrorist in a county of 35 million people who all look like the insurgents terrorists?

(and how many of the 150,000 Christian US troops are sufficiently trained in how to win hearts & minds 35 million Muslims?

35 million Muslim Iraqis.

Answer 1

They can't even win the "Hearts and Minds " of the half million or so Christians in Iraq. Most have fled American occupied Iraq. They are among the Five Million or so refugees our Invasion has created, so far.

Answer 2

The number one thing you need if you want to defeat an insurgency is an insurgency. Without that you are going nowhere. Luckily everybody now hates the Yanks so much that you will never be short of somebody to fight with. No seriously America have done a great job of slaughtering people all around the world and now there are countless thousands of liberated Iraqis overflowing the graveyards. America has created a nation of Orphans, widows, and cripples all eager to thankyou for freedom and democracy.

Answer 3

I don't think we can realistically win the hearts & minds of Muslims...especially uneducated brainwashed jihadist Muslims. We should go after the most dangerous of jihadists and kill them because the civilian population will never be totally for us, or against us....more likely the majority will be against us actually....

Answer 4

There are two different approaches, one tactical one strategic. Tactically, the defeat of the insurgency is paramount. Strategically, a unified and/or pacified Iraq is necessary to permit self determined rule and peaceful future elections.

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Answer 5

Demoralize them. Don't try to be their friends.

The fastest way to break their resolve and morale is to pound them mercilessly with military force (I'm not talking a few bombs followed by endless foot soldiers).