Why we can't win in Iraq

I'm reading a fascinating book, "Caesar - Life of A Colossus", by Adrian Goldsworthy, and in his chapters dealing with Caesar's Gallic Wars, I've discovered the reason we won't be able to win the war in Iraq. Caesar was bogged down in a similar situation in Gaul - he had invaded a territory he thought he knew, but came to find out that the inhabitants didn't necessarily want to be ruled by an imperial power. After initial successes, the legions came under more and more attacks from the Gauls, leading to an entire legion being destroyed. The Gauls weren't a unified nation with an army willing and/or able to meet the Romans in a head to head fight, so they resorted to guerrilla tactics.

Caesar "wanted to regain the initiative, which inevitably at the beginning of a revolt lay with the rebels. The Roman army would attack and would show that Rome was still strong in spite of defeat, and that the consequences of opposing it were appalling. The tribes had no single leader, no capital and looked unlikely even to mass into a single field army. Nor would the defeat of one necessarily cause others to capitulate, and each had to be defeated in turn. Lacking these clear targets, Caesar would instead attack the homes and farms of the warriors. Houses would be burned, crops and herds consumed or destroyed, and people killed or enslaved. The Romans had a word for this activity, vastatio, which is the root of the word devastation, and even a verb vastare for the process. It was brutal in the extreme, but could be effective, terrifying the enemy into admitting defeat and coming to terms. Throughout history occupying forces have often turned to similar methods, but few have surpassed Caesar's legions in their ruthlessly efficient application."

The only way we could do this would be to totally abandon who and what we are as a nation. We don't do terror, it's just not are way. It's the opposite of what we say our objective is, winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people (which isn't working by the way). And because we aren't as ruthless, as cruel as those we are fighting, we won't win this fight.