text: Ok, this question is so short-sighted it drives me to near insanity.  I was in the first Iraq war in the northern part of the country. My brother has done two tours in the second conflict that is occuring now.  The fact that the initial invasion of Iraq was termed "Shock and Awe" in no way reflects the theory of war you just presented.  One of the reasons both wars were so damned expensive was due to our determination NOT to hit civilian targets.  Overall, it would be much easier to carpet bomb a country into capitulation than to send in an invasion force.  Just as WWII Germans.  Dresden was firebombed to the ground.  We have not done even a slight portion of the damage done in previous wars.  When we target power installations in the first war, it was specifically to deny the Iraqi millitary electricity.  We don't bomb hospitals, sewage treatment centers, public water works, schools or other civilian infrastructure.  War is hell.  At least when we Americans commit to a war we don't rape, murder or pillage like U.N. troops.