Quote Originally Posted by LawVol View Post
Does this mean that "winning hearts and minds" isn't really possible in Iraq?
I personally don't think it is in the traditional, Cold War terms of "winning over" the "undecideds" by providing things to them. I think Americans gravitated to that idea because we wanted to understand the unfamiliar--cultures that work on patronage and primal ties--through a lens we understood. We conceptualize politics as a process where the dedicated cadres of each side try and win the support of the undecideds by providing (or promising to provide) things they want, whether projects, jobs, or policies.

I don't think all of the world operates like that.

So, to your question. I don't think Americans can win "hearts and minds" in Iraq. It has frustrated us because we reel off the number of school we've built, and people are still shooting at us. I just don't think people are going to support us because we provide goodies. Plus, they know that eventually we'll be gone and the insurgents will not. I think most people caught in insurgencies pursue survival strategies--they attempt to stay out of the mess. When that is not possible, they "support" whoever is most likely to hurt them.

So, this leads me to conclude that we've approached the Iraq insurgency with an inapplicable conceptual model.