Gone are the days of the Globe's 'Hoo-rah!' cheer-leading for military missions of this sort. I guess Afghanistan was enough to wake them up to the cold, hard reality. 

All war is ugly, but the ugliest is counter-insurgency. It's tactics are ruthless. The 'enemies' are the citizens of the country you're fighting in. You're not there to liberate the people, but to preserve a political status quo. A smart nation will gnaw its own hand off before sticking it into that fire.