Winning their hearts and minds... losing the war.

A basic tenet of military operations: If, after exercising a military option, you want to control a country, you must control the capital city. If you don't, the rest of the country can be a virtual paradise of your own making, and you still won't control the country.

Controlling the capital means that, after beating the living daylights out of it, you swiftly, and without interference, get the whole place back on its feet and functioning. You get life back to "normal" as quickly as you possibly can - lest an insurgency develops.

Why is the capital so important? Easy. It is a multi-faceted centre of the country. It is the centre of law, the place from which regulations are issued and the place from which information originates. It is the place which holds the television, radio and broadcast stations which produce first-hand government information. It holds the key to national infrastructure. It has within it the most influential of the national population and, in most countries, tends to be the centre of excellence for academic, engineering and scientific discipline.

The rest of the country, no matter what their situation may be, looks to the capital as a bellwether of the state of the country.

Eisenhower knew he needed Berlin to take Germany. Sandy Woodward knew that when the goal was to take Port Stanley. Norman Schwarzfopf knew that when the drive was to take Kuwait City. Tommy Franks knew that when he pushed to take Kabul and later Baghdad.

This is one of the basics taught at Carslisle Barracks; at Newport, Rhode Island; at Watchfield, England and; at Kingston, Ontario.

In Iraq, despite how anyone feels about the reasons for the US invasion of that country, the place that had to be completely and utterly secured, was Baghdad.

That means the government, no matter how bad it was, had to be regenerated quickly and competently, including the information broadcast systems, the food supply, the electrical supply, the security and the water supply. Everyone had to feel comfortable, and that goes right down to the small shopkeeper. The same basic services, with which the residents of the capital felt comfortable, had to be restored to levels they viewed as "normal".

David Petraeus knows all this, as does British Lt. General Graeme lamb. Those who don't have a grasp on this start with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz and extends to the low levels like William Kristol who believes that saving the world means saving Scooter Libby.

So, when something like this happens:

Much of the Iraqi capital was without running water Thursday and had been for at least 24 hours, compounding the urban misery in a war zone and the blistering heat at the height of the Baghdad summer.

Residents and city officials said large sections in the west of the capital had been virtually dry for six days because the already strained electricity grid can't provide sufficient juice to run water purification and pumping stations.

Jamil Hussein, 52, retired army officer who lives in northeast Baghdad, said his house has been without water for two weeks, except for two hours at night. He says the water that does flow smells and is unclean.

You've already lost.

Just what the fuck were you people thinking?

H/T reader Cat