Quote Originally Posted by Mike in Hilo View Post
Strikes me we have a contradiction...

My own training and experience long ago convinced me that the primary COIN general principle--the indispensible sine qua non--was indeed convincing the population that we are on the winning side. May require a higher priority on killing the enemy (not advocating slaughter of civilians, for sure). That and "control" as Tequila has defined it.
Concur, and the bold emphasis is mine.