Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
All true -- for some, for others, not so much. Every thing you say also applies to the opposition. said opposition is far more likely to antagonize the locals than are most western armies who take classes in how to be nice and usually don't steal the goats and chickens. So that aspect is about a wash. The issue then becomes who pays more...

Then, those western hunters also have several other means of intel gathering that do not rely on locals. Net advantage, the hunters.
As an especially insightful Marine LtCol and ETT mentor once said, "The Taliban get a lot more mileage out of threats than you do out of rice and blankets."

In my experience, the intel provided by concerned citizens was rarely of much use. And even then, we never charmed them into giving up their insurgent neighbors. I had a lot of lieutenants and squad leaders looking at me all puzzled because I refused to try to recruit sources when we were out having key leader engagements and such. We had more effective means of collection, and I didn't want the locals to associate my face with an American trying to pump them for information all the time, like some kind of armed Jehovah's Witness showing up every week to harass them.

When all the LLOs are in place and progressing, the masses who find that their best interest is to assist the counterinsurgents will find us. And then you get that pretty intelligence <--> operations loop thing. Until then, you have to be more creative.