Contain the baddies, let them posture in the streets with their RPG's and feel like they are holding ground against the great infidel.

Starve. Them. Out.

Let anyone who wants out of the contained cities out, let no one in.

On egress, all people will be searched, photographed, and finger printed. Establish Aid Camps immediately outside the perimeter where the civillian populace will be fed, attended to medically, given monetary aid and re-location assistance. Will some of them hate you for it? Yes, they will. Will some insurgents sneak by you? Yes they will.

When the exodus begins to wane make very public announcemets that you are coming into the city and anyone still inside the city limits will be considered a combatant and will be killed if they do not surrender. Go in with a big force and kick ass. Secure the city, make sure there is not a living creature inside it, then start to rebuild.

Rebuild using local talent and with local input. Treat the civillians with respect. Apologize for their suffering, weep for their dead. Follow their customs and respect their culture as much as possible while still protecting the force. Patrol rigorously with locally recruited personnel. Offer aid when asked, step back and let them make their own mistakes (lord knows we can make enough on our own without asking for more) when they don't ask for help.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Eventually, you either have all the bad guys or you have no one left to fight you. It's brutal, it's ugly, and it's effective.

Will the media proclaim that we have lost the third or fourth or fifth time we lay seige to Fallujah? Yes, they will. Will the nay-sayers and critics be up in arms? Yes, they will. Will this breed more insurgents? Yes, it will....for awhile.

Meanwhile, where you aren't having insurgent problems you re-build, you go on with life, you help out without butting in. Eventually, the number of hot-spots dwindles (after shifting around a few times) until there are no hot-spots left.

Is this something that can be done in a year? No. A decade? Probably not? A generation? Maybe. Is it worth the price? Why don't you ask the decendents of freed slaves if the Federal casualties from the civil war were worth it to them. What price is there truly for freedom?