Mike,

This ties into my previous comments elsewhere that the carrot isn't a strategy, at least not without a stick in the other hand. We have been winning hearts and minds for years, but unfortunately that hasn't correlated with winning wars. When I use the phrase political correct war, this is definitely part of what PC war involves. The American population (and political body) expects to see its military handing out rations, building schools, building roads, etc. to demonstrate our good will, and while it plays nicely to the international audience (sometimes) and definitely to the home audience, it has resulted (in my opinion) that we just do these things without any real thought behind them except for a Kodac moment showing we're winning hearts and minds, but in reality we're only getting temporary positive press coverage, and no real effect on the local population. We simply can't stop doing this cold turkey without first educating our population and political leaders that these seemingly nice acts are frequently counterproductive.

I would love to hear some ideas/recommendations from the council on ways to get a quid pro quo from the local populace in return for our good deeds? I heard one from my boss recently where he recommends encouraging an amnesty program, but an insurgent/terrorist can't get amnesty without turning in at least one other insurgent. This betrayal tactic prevents him going back to the insurgency, so he has a vested interest in seeing the government win (this closes the revolving door, and really goes back to you either with us or against us). However, amnesty isn't a carrot like building a well, so what do we reasonably demand in exchange for digging a well, building a road, etc.? How do we enforce it? I know it is situation specific, but any ideas will generate further ideas that will our guys deployed.