They aren't merely shadowy figures, they are the shadows. So how do you remove shadows?
I agree that "patience" is required for rebuilding any society, particularly one that was working fine until the US "liberation" happened along. Earle refers to the "insurgents." They flourish not in a vacuum but as an integral part of the very society that we -- the US -- are trying to rebuild after destroying it. They aren't aliens, as we are, but a part of the everyday life of Iraq.
I'm afraid the situation in Iraq has gone well past the point where these so-called insurgents can be controlled by diktat. They aren't merely shadowy figures; they are the shadows. How do you move -- or remove -- those shadows?
I cannot but help reminiscing about the days when I covered Iraq as a young foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Yes, Saddam ruled with an iron fist. Yes, it was a police state. Yes, not-so-little-men in not-so-little cars followed foreigners around. But Iraq was also a place where the infrastructure worked, where you could walk around without fear of being assassinated. It was a place where car bombs didn't go off regularly.
The tranquility of that police state at least allowed everyday people to live as everyday people. We came in to liberate them from the police state, and in the process destroyed the tranquility. What have we replaced it with?
Insurgencies do end, as do wars. Of course it will take time. And of course it will take patience. But try telling it to those everyday Iraqis who are dying daily in record numbers.